Project: Trinity
by RyukiData
Summary: She's the perfect girl--he's a cold hearted bastard with a past. But when the Heartless invade, Leon finds himself drawn to Aerith; trouble is, her heart's already taken by someone else. A Second Loop. [Story is being continued--Chapter 17 NEW!]
1. 1 And in the Beginning

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Project: Trinity

Chapter One: And in the Beginning...

Author's quickie: "What's up?" to all the readers out there! [especially Cloud-Aerith-Leon supporters!] This isn't my first fanfiction, but it is my first pertaining to Kingdom Hearts [Great game, although I do wish there was more FF in it]. One note: This is will be very long. And for a reason. And this takes place in the midst of Kingdom Hearts; meaning, everything happens when Sora's on his little journey to seal up the keyholes.

Disclaimer: I own my plot, I own my myself, but, unfortunately, I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Nor Aerith. Nor Leon nor Cloud nor...[rambles on].

* * *

The sunlight filtered in through the lace curtains on her window, casting warm rays on her face. She stirred faintly, her eyelids parting to reveal a pair of luminous green eyes. A yawn escaped out of her mouth, and she smiled briefly, stretching out on her comfortable plain white bed. Aerith blinked, tilting her head as the faint metallic sound reached her ears. She smiled yet again, shaking her head. 

Silently she got up out of bed, and walking over to her dresser, yanked a brush through her hair a few perfunctory times. Yuffie had always complained that brushing her hair was a great waste of time, since Aerith's hair was always naturally straight and smooth; no wind dared to rifle up her braids, unless it was one of her own calling. Yet there was something calming, something soothing, in the normality of the act. Soundlessly her feet passed over the medium-sized dulled pink jute rug in the middle of the floor, and, stooping down quickly, she picked up from the box a white T-shirt and a simple white skirt that brushed her ankles, made out of bleached cloth.

Quickly she changed out of her nightgown into her clothes, making sure she stood out of the view of the window, even though there could quite possibly be no one else in District Two except Leon. Still, better to be safe than sorry, Aerith decided to herself. _Because you're sorry enough already._ She shook her head to clear her thoughts, and slid her feet into her weaved khaki-coloured sandals. After giving herself a last glance in the mirror, she walked out of her room, shutting it gently so it wouldn't disturb Yuffie, who was (it could be heard) snoring loudly in the third room. Silently she walked down the stairs, scanning the kitchen even though she knew he wouldn't be there. Sighing to herself, she reached into the refrigerator and pulled out half a dozen eggs, slices of bacon, a carton of orange juice, and a jug of milk. Setting the bacon out to defrost on the counter, Aerith snapped open the door of the bread pantry and took out a loaf of fresh bread. Sliding a heavy metal pan onto the stove, she turned on the fire, waiting for it heat. 

The sounds of ringing metal were still going strong, even louder from the kitchen. Quietly Aerith walked to the backdoor, swinging the door open softly. She peered outside and couldn't prevent a smile from appearing on her lips.

He sent a sharp glance over at her before taking another swipe at the metal bar. As his gunblade struck the bar, it glanced off, but not before making a serious dent in the metal. His breathing just barely above normal, he stopped and looked at her pointedly.

She smiled and shrugged carelessly. "I knew you'd be out here, preventing me from sleeping in late with that inferno racket of yours." It was light, teasing banter, something that she would do often to provoke moody, taciturn Leon into at least talking with her.

"Yet I don't see Yuffie complaining about it, do you?" he responded swiftly.

"Yuffie would sleep through a bomb attack," Aerith pointed out bluntly. Leon didn't answer, sullenly admitting defeat. She grinned and said, "Practicing, again? You haven't even eaten yet. Give it a rest." Leon looked at his gunblade before wordlessly turning his back on her and started hitting the bar again. She sighed and shook her head, a bit hurt. Leon didn't seem to value her presence much, and was always silent unless she prompted him to talk with her teasing. True, Leon was pretty much always silent, even with Yuffie; but still, Aerith wasn't accustomed to that sort of frigidity. _Well, maybe once upon a time..._ She turned back into the kitchen and dutifully began preparing breakfast.

Once she was gone, Leon swung his blade with all his might at the bar, frustrated again and again as the bar held firm. Frustrated at his inability to cut through the damn bar, yes; but frustrated, also, at himself. What was he trying to hold back? There really was no reason for him to be so cold to Aerith, nor to anyone, especially since they had all lost something special. There was that bond that they all shared; but even more, it was the bond of friendship. Something he had learned to treasure, the hard way. Self-consciously he willed himself to be more amiable next time he talked to her, but old habits die hard.

The air crackled with the aromatic smell of crisp bacon as she finished frying them and slid them, thick and juicy, into plates, two slices for her and three each for the others. Swiftly she crackled open two eggs and scrambled them, frying the other four while a dousing a hint of salt on two. The slices of bread that she had popped in the toaster whizzed into the air with a twang, and she scooped them up and spread light margarine on one side and left the other bare, repeating the process again. She laid out a bagel and chives cream cheese out on the table, and placed the plates laden with steaming food next to their respective glasses of juice or milk. As a final touch, she set the napkin holder in the center, making sure it was within easy reach.

Stepping back, Aerith surveyed her work critically before nodding to herself, satisfied. A little hesitant, she made up her mind and walked to the back door again, opening it slightly to watch him. 

He was still at it, slamming into the bar with incredible stubbornness. He seemed not to notice her, so intent on bashing the target to a cinder, that Aerith stayed silent to watch him. Sarcastic, cold, indifferent...he reminded her so much of Cloud. Cloud, whom she didn't even know if he was alive now, who hadn't known she was alive then. Fate was a jealous, spiteful thing. She clutched her chest; thinking about the past was a painful, torturous experience. Better not to rehash the memories up where they could hurt, she reprimanded herself.

__

Clang! Metal struck metal as Leon swung his weapon, a slight grunt escaping his mouth. Without turning around, he asked gruffly, "What is it?" Shock jolted her out of her thoughts.

"You-you knew I was here?" she asked, jarring into consciousness.

He stopped his practicing to give her an obvious stare. "Of course I knew you were here. What am I, an amateur?"

She smiled sheepishly and bowed her head. "Sorry. Guess I forgot what an all-mighty warrior we have amongst us."

He scowled, though he was trying hard not to. "I know when somebody's mocking me."

"Oh, and who would that be?" she said lightly, pivoting around, about to re-enter the house. As if in an afterthought, she tilted her head back to look at him for a moment, smiling hesitantly. "Breakfast is ready, Leon." Without waiting for an answer, and expecting none, Aerith stepped into the bright, sunny kitchen that smelled so wonderful, like fresh-cleaned laundry put up to dry in the meadow. She sighed, propping her elbows up on the worn but homely kitchen counter, and a brief smile flickered past her face. If only those days weren't taken away from her...

"Awwhhh...!" A yawn interrupted her thoughts, and she turned around to stare at Yuffie, who was shuffling down the stairs in her slippers and long-sleeved pajamas.

"Awake, sleepy head?" Aerith laughed, taking in Yuffie's tousled mangle of short hair and tired eyes. "You're the last one."

  
"Um." Yuffie said, too tired to answer. She sniffed the air in the kitchen, her face intent. "Is breakfast ready?"

Aerith laughed and waved a hand at the set-up table. "You bet." Yuffie's face immediately brightened a few notches as she spied the food.

"Apparently someone was too lazy to get up before nine-thirty," Leon said as he walked in through the back door. 

"Aw, shut up, Squall." Yuffie said, plopping down on a seat. "We can't all be early larks that wake up before the crack of dawn."

"It's Leon." He said in irritation, crossing over to the sink and proceeded to wash his hands. "And the Heartless don't sleep."

"Psh. Why are you so intent on this whole good-versus-evil stuff?" Yuffie replied, starting to shovel her scrambled eggs into her mouth. Her mouth worked to simultaneously chew and talk. "Don't be so narrow-minded."

Aerith could sense Leon's building tension and quickly intercepted it. "Guys, come on; just leave it alone, okay? The food's getting cold."

Yuffie shrugged and continued eating, and Leon approached the table and sat down, scowling at the childish girl. Aerith sent Leon a warning look, pleading with him to stomach Yuffie's bouts of immaturity; he glared but kept quiet. Yuffie began, "See, Squall, you never see Aerith being so mean to me--"

"It's Leon, damn it!" Leon swore, annoyance spiking his voice.

"Geez! You don't have to shout! You're even worse than Cloud!" Yuffie yelled back, her anger overriding her discretion. Aerith's face whitened, and her lower lip trembled as soon as the word was out of Yuffie's mouth. Cloud! Her heart still beat painfully every time she heard his name. Yuffie gasped and clamped a hand over a mouth, sending a terrified look at Aerith. Leon stared puzzledly between the two of them.

Aerith placed her fork down beside her untouched plate with a soft _clink_. Something cold gripped her heart, and a dull throb began to beat a war drum in her head. Slowly, painfully, she placed a hand to her forehead. "I-I think I'm not very hungry. Sorry." She stood up almost mechanically, and shuffled towards the front door. Yuffie, knowing she had committed a gaffe, gave her an apologetic glance.

"Aerith!" she squeaked out, squirming in her chair. "I-I didn't mean to...I mean, uh..."

Aerith turned back to look at Yuffie, an unreadable look on her face that disturbed Leon's usual calm demeanor. "Don't worry about it, Yuffie," Aerith said monotonously, her normally expressive green eyes clouded and carefully blank. _She looks..._Leon thought worriedly, _...strange._ It was a look he wasn't completely able to put a finger on, something he had seen before but had long forgotten. "I'll be back soon."

"Aerith!" Yuffie tried once again, but this time, Aerith had disappeared out the door without another backwards glance.

* * *

[Picks up later in Chapter two. Don't forget to read and review! [hey, that rhymed...! I'm such a loser... --;]


	2. 2 There was me,

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Project: Trinity

Chapter Two: There was me...

Another Author's Quickie: Hi to...everyone! First off, the primary reason I was able to post the next chapter up so soon was because I had it done early. But, with the dreaded SAT's lurking around the corner this weekend, readers should expect a minor/major delay in upgrading. Sorry!

Second, but no less important, a BIG thank-you to the slew of readers who kindly condescended to convert their feelings into words of encouragement. The unexpected positive response I received in reviews really made me want to hug you all...but, perhaps some things are better left unsaid. Oh, and special thanks to Snowri, my first reviewer [Really? A Leon-Yuffie fan? Hmmm...I wonder how that would work?], and It's Gonna Rain, for writing a really conducive review. Thanks again to everyone! I'll try to add a new chapter every week or so.

Disclaimer: Well, considering that Squaresoft & Disney has currently rejected my proposal to buy Kingdom Hearts from them, it is suffice to say...no, I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

* * *

Leon gave Yuffie a cold stare. "Well, that was interesting. What the hell just happened?" he said in his traditionally blunt way.

Yuffie pursed her lips and groaned, burying her head in her hands. "I screwed up bad."

"That was obvious." Leon crossed his arms and tapped a finger on the table. "Could you elaborate, please?"

Yuffie threw him a dirty look, but said with a sigh, "I mentioned something that was a mistake."

"No kidding. That's the closest I've seen Aerith to having a panic attack."

"It was because of you, you jerk! If you hadn't been shouting at me so much, I wouldn't have said 'Cloud'!" Yuffie slumped in her chair and moaned. Leon waited for her explanation to continue in impatient silence, knowing what a drama queen Yuffie was. 

When no further explanation followed, he prompted in annoyance, "So? What is 'Cloud'? Would you care to tell me things that make sense?"

"Not what, who," Yuffie corrected, busily chewing on her fingernails. "Cloud used to be...uh...well...He saved Aerith once, a long time ago. They used to be really close. Until...until a demonic, psychopathic, bad-ass creep separated the two of them. She hasn't seen Cloud since." Yuffie was clearly struggling for words, and Leon nodded curtly.

"I get the picture." Heartsickness. It figured, he thought to himself. Girls were always the maudlin, sentimental type. He stood up and walked to the backdoor, his hand reaching for the doorknob.

"Well?" Yuffie demanded. "Aren't you going to help me look for her?"

He looked back incredulously at her, swinging his gunblade over his shoulder. His face clearly showed he had no intention of doing so.

Yuffie's face contorted into one of disbelief and disappointment. "Aerith needs someone to comfort her! Why are you so damn cold?" Leon snorted and ignored her comment, about to leave. "But...didn't you see something wrong with her...?" Yuffie pleaded slowly, as if pondering something. 

Leon tilted his head up, refusing to answer. _Yes,_ he thought silently._ Aerith looked dazed. Frightened. Like she knew what was coming, had dealt with it before._ Somehow it didn't seem to him that Aerith would get so shocked just from one mention of a name. "It's your problem. You go deal with it." Though he felt a twinge of guilt from being so heartless, it really wasn't any of his business. Aerith's past belonged to herself, after all, and he would not get involved. He had promised himself that before.

Just as he turned back to open the backdoor, however, his thoughts were interrupted with a bang as a blonde middle-aged man staggered through the door, his voice breathless. 

"Cid!" Leon shouted in alarm, the shock wearing away enough to allow him to speak.

"The...heartless...here..." Cid wheezed out, sinking against the kitchen counter.

As if on cue, a black Shadow slinked behind him, readying itself to pounce on the victim. With a quick left-handed swipe Leon sliced through the creature and swung the door closed in mingled disgust and fear. 

"There's...more coming," Cid said, regaining a bit of his breath. Yuffie pressed her glass of water into his hand, which he gulped gratefully. "They just swarmed over the first district like rats. I tried my best for a while, and managed to herd the people into the top of the workshop, with Aero on. But you know that my magic lacks the strength to last long enough. So I ran all the way here. We have to help them get into safety!"

Leon tensed, readying himself to battle again, quickly loading up his gunblade and snapped the holder shut. "Leon!" Yuffie turned to him, horror on her face. "Aerith!" The single word was enough to make Leon curse violently, and he gritted his teeth in annoyance.

"Aerith? Isn't she here?" Cid asked bewilderedly.

"Come on, old man! If she was here, you think I'd be asking?" Yuffie cried out in frustration.

Leon thought for a tense moment, turning his back on the two bickering colleagues. Quickly he came up with a tentative plan of action, and turned around, immediately assuming the position of leadership he had grown accustomed to. "Yuffie. You go with Cid to District one and protect the people in the workshop. Cid, I want you to prep up one of your ships, any ship that you think is capable of flight and holding a lot of people. Traverse town is no longer safe. We need to get out of here."

They nodded quickly, and Yuffie ran a hand over her shuriken for reassurance. "What about you?" she asked.

Determination glinted in his eyes as he headed for the backdoor, gunblade gripped tightly in his hand. "I'm going to find Aerith."

* * * 

She felt incredibly tired, incredibly wasted. Like she had been wrung out, hung out to dry, and now someone was trying to stick pins in her. Wearily she shuffled on, clutching her chest, heaving painfully. The throb in her head was getting louder, stronger. _Where am I going? _she thought numbly. It didn't matter. Away, away from it all...

A cry was ripped out of her throat as she stumbled, her cheek grazing the rough, gritty cement path as she fell. Weakly she placed her hands on the cold ground, forcing herself back up. Something fluid slid down her cheek, splattering in tiny crimson drops onto her white dress. _Blood_, she realized dully. _My _blood. She shut her eyes tightly, fighting hysteria as well as the fervent urge to cry. Jerkily her right hand reached up to touch her cheek, running a finger down the gash in her skin. It was hard to tell where the cut began and where it ended, since blood kept gushing out of the wound and onto her hands. She opened her eyes again, staring in frozen shock at the way her hand was covered in crimson. Spasms of dread shot their way up her nerves, awakening her headache to its full capacity. Like an atomic blast, a wave of fresh, sharp pain slammed her back onto her knees.

Her mouth opened and closed, gasping like a fish struggling out of water. Futilely she clutched at her chest, crumpling against the whitewashed wall of an abandoned building in the alleyway. Her heavy, laborious breathing came out in strained breaths, and inwardly she felt herself being ripped apart. _No! _Her weak plea dissolved, overwhelmed by the physical torture her headache was enacting upon her. The agony was familiar; she could dimly remember the same kind of torture the day the sky fell down.

__

Leave me, she begged silently. _Let me go._ _No more!_ Her pain began to take form in front of her, a purple black cloud that twisted itself into grotesque shapes. Horrified, she lurched back as far as she could, her back pressing against the rough wall of the abandoned building. "Stay back!" she whispered harshly. The shadow seemed to leer at her, and finally it split into a dozen black bug-like creatures with blinking yellow eyes. Two dozen bug eyes focused on her, their antennae waving frantically, as they crept closer and closer. 

Aerith crouched down, huddling into a tight ball, trying to avoid the shadows. Two of them, the vanguard of the group, leapt upon her and dug their claws into her arm. Yelping, she tried to fling them off; the pain was real, it wasn't just her imagination! Four bright red claw marks appeared on her arm, blood seeping out of them in bursts. _Like that day--Ragnarok--the world ended..._ She screamed.


	3. 3 And there was you

Author's Quickie: Hey all! What's up? Well, enough with the useless chitter chatter. Chapter 3 already! Whew! Where does all that time go? I'm sorry this is so short, but I promised everyone I'd update within a week, and this was all I could crank out. Sheesh. And, I'm trying to create a manga from scratch to submit, so my time's stretched pretty thin. Another week, another chapter!  


Disclaimer: Planted sign reads: "NO OWNERSHIP!"

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Project: Trinity

Chapter Three: And there was you...

"Damn it, Aerith, where the hell did you go?!" he muttered to himself furiously, his feet pounding on the street. Damn sentimental femininity. For a girl who looked like she was having a heart attack a few moments before, she could sure walk fast.

Leon cursed loudly as he came upon a fork in the street. District Two of Traverse town specialized in branching roads that lead to nowhere; one wrong turn would leave him wandering for days. And he couldn't afford the loss of time.

As if in special mockery of his urgency, hordes of soldier Heartless appeared, blocking his way. Swearing, he leapt back and readied his gunblade, smiling grimly to himself. Cid was starting to complain that he was swearing more than he was. Well, it was a habit that was well nourished in this environment. Without waiting for an enemy offensive, Leon spun and slashed the nearest Heartless, using him to topple onto the others. Their heavy metal armor clanked as they fell down in a heap and dissipated into dust. _Well, that was that_, he thought as he brushed off the dust.

He spoke too soon; a pair of air soldiers came up just when he was finishing the soldiers. In one rapid swoop they descended upon him, tearing into his body. It was sheer instinct that had him ducking at the last moment, so their attacks only grazed his head. Furious that his pride had gotten the better of him, Leon swung his blade at the flying monsters, who easily dodged his heavy weapon. "Stupid!" he said as he gritted his teeth, hissing in irritation. Physical attack was clearly out of the question, so that left magic.

Instantly his body began charging up for the attack, his hands emitting a fiery red glow. Leon concentrated, and sent a spitting fireball hurling at one of the air soldiers. Its wing caught on fire and it went down, where he promptly eliminated it with a good swing. As for the other...with a quick motion he launched another magic attack at it, and when it fell, he strode over to it. It writhed from the attack, but still reached up, trying to strike him. Disgusted, Leon ended its mindless pseudo-life with a quick crunch of his boot. 

_Well, nothing like a battle to get your blood pumping, _he thought dryly, scraping his boot on the sidewalk to get the dust off. As he turned to face the road split-off once more, the question of where to go and the aggravation that accompanied the decision returned. _God damn it, _he thought, extremely ticked off. _Which road to take?_

Time was running short. Cid and Yuffie would be needing his help; heck, even Aerith might be in trouble, considering her natural lack of strength and the strange way she looked...

A scream pierced his thoughts and sent shivers down his spine. A scream that sounded, terrifyingly, like Aerith's. "What, did you read my mind?" he muttered as he ran towards the direction of her voice.

And prayed that he wasn't too late.

* * * 

His footsteps seemed too loud for the still silence that fell after Aerith's scream. It seemed that the whole neighborhood was waiting, with bated breath, for everything to be played out. With his heavy gunblade gripped tightly in one hand, Leon ran through the streets, his eyes locking onto the unfolding scene before him.

There! He stopped dead, his breathing laborious and strained, when he saw a group of Heartless clustered around a point in the street in front of him. Somewhere in that grotesque mass of writhing shadows he thought he saw a flash of white. "Aerith!" he shouted out, his eyes wide with fear. He charged, swinging at the Heartless in an effort to scatter them away from her body.

Growling, the shadows retreated a couple of paces, warily watching the weapon in his hand. Aerith was there, slumped against the wall, with gashes on her arms and blood stains on her clothes. Her eyes were closed tight, and across her cheek was a large cut. "Aerith," he said as he quickly dropped to his knees and placed his hands on her shoulders. God, her skin was so cold! "Aerith, wake up; it's me, Leon." Urgency filled his voice as he threw a look over his shoulder at the prowling Heartless.

Slowly her eyelids fluttered open, the pupils of her eyes unfocused and clouded. A hazy shape seemed to lean in front of her, the outline fuzzy and distorted. _Is it you? _she wondered hopefully, still lost in the dreamworld,_ Have you finally found me? I've missed you so..._ It took a few precious moments for her to return fully to reality, and when she did, it surprised her that the shape turned out to be none other than Leon. "Leon?" she whispered in a raw voice. "What are you doing here?"

"I should be the one asking you that question." Though his voice was neutral, the expression on his face clearly showed he was mildly irritated. She quickly bowed her head and muttered a few inaudible words of apology, twisting her sweating hands in her lap nervously.

"Never mind that now," he snapped. Perhaps now that his fear of Aerith dying was gone, he could resort back to the next matter at hand, he thought peevishly to himself. In truth, he was relieved he made it in time; but still...

Aerith, at his harsh words, bit her lip and shakily tried to stand up. Instantly Leon regretted saying anything and caught her awkwardly when her knees gave way. The heartless, sensing weakness, circled around a little closer. "You're still weak," Leon murmured, trying to be gentler towards her.

"I--I can make it," she said stubbornly, pushing him away. Leon gave her a doubtful glance but shrugged. Her headache was lessening, though her body still groaned whenever she made a move. Her breath caught when she noticed the swarm of black shadows watching them slyly. It suddenly struck her that the shadows she saw when her headache was at its peak was... "Leon, the Heartless..."

He grimaced and swung his gunblade out. "Yeah, I know."

Unconsciously Aerith took a step closer to him; her lack of strength was infamous. "What happened, Leon?" she asked in an hesitating whisper. "Why are so many of them here? What's going on?"

  
"We've been invaded," Leon answered, never taking his eyes off his adversaries. "Traverse Town has fallen."

* * *

Just a little endnote: Thanks to all the repeat reviewers! I love you all! I have something planned for you guys in the near future....!

Oh, and P.S.: Cloud's on his way! Expect him to "enter" the plot within the next two chapters.


	4. 4 You see me not,

Author's quickie: Here it is! The fourth chapter in what is most likely going to be a _long_ series. Yikes. Oh, and I'm _really, really_ sorry, but I'm afraid Cloud won't be coming in these next two chapters after all. I've decided to develop Aerith's relationship with Leon a bit more until he finally -bang!- does appear. Maybe the next three chapters, tops!

Disclaimer: You can stop sending me legal papers intending to sue for ownership, because I do not own any segment of what rightfully belongs to Squaresoft.

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Project: Trinity

Chapter Four: You see me not.

For a moment, Aerith refused to believe him. _Just a sick joke, that's all,_ she told 

herself with a fake laugh. But when she looked closer at Leon and saw a muscle in his jaw twitching erratically, and that his eyes looked a little _too_ red to be normal, she knew. It was all true. Leon would never lie about something like that. Aerith stifled a horrified gasp as the implications hit her. 

"Leon," she asked urgently, "what about...?"

"Yuffie and Cid are in District One, trying to get all civilians to another world. They're waiting for us." With that said, he stopped waiting for the Heartless to attack and charged. A furious lunge sliced through some of the Shadows, and when a Heartless clung to his leg, he punched it into the wall, where it dissipated into dust.

"Leon, look out!" she cried out as a Darkball pounced at him, its fanged mouth aiming for his head. Aerith shot out a hand and instantly an icicle of ice hurtled at the monster. It plopped down at her feet, the frozen body separating into icy shards. 

Leon twisted around to give her a short glance before he plunged his gunblade into the last Shadow. Grunting, he heaved his weapon over his shoulder and ran back over to where she stood.

"They're getting stronger," Aerith said as she eyed the broken remains of the Darkball.

Leon crunched the shards under his boot without a word. His face was flushed, his breathing irregular. "We have to go."

Aerith nodded silently. "Leon, what about our home...?" Though it wasn't truly a "home", the house they had in Traverse Town was as close as it could get.

The look he gave her was at once understanding and sarcastic. "We have no time. Leave it." He glanced at her, who was still leaning against the wall for support. "Can you walk?"

"Uh...I don't know."_ Perhaps it's better now..._she thought hopefully. Gingerly she straightened her legs and tried to make it hold her body weight. When her legs began to wobble unsteadily, she quickly held onto the wall again. "No," she grimaced, "I don't think so."

"Here." Leon held out his hand, which she took after some hesitation. When he slipped his hand under her arm and placed his hand on her waist, propping her to a standing position, Aerith nearly jolted with surprise. _He's just trying to help,_ she told herself, calming the anxiety in her stomach. Awkwardly she looped her other arm over his shoulder. Leon looked at her with an uncharacteristic bit of nervousness. "Is this alright? Can you walk better now?"

She nodded, a bit of heat rising up her neck. "Thank you."

He gave her one of his sardonic grins. "For what?" He looked out at the streets looming before them. "We have to hurry."

She lapsed into silence as they started walking. "Aerith...?" Leon muttered.

"Hmm...?" she said, her eyes a little out of focus.

"Thanks."

He could've sworn she was grinning.

* * * 

"What's taking them so long?!" Yuffie cried in frustration as she shot off another ninja star. The Darkball she barely nicked bared its fangs and hissed at her when she jumped off to another rooftop.

"They're grouping together to attack!" Cid shouted out hoarsely, using his spear as a bat to smash barrels into the Heartless. Yuffie grunted as she landed not too softly next to him, and held out her shuriken to attack the first Heartless that came at her.

"This is great," Yuffie moaned. "I was hoping to reach my seventeenth birthday before I died, but I guess that's not happening."

Cid managed a credible snort. "Yeah? Maybe if you ask the Heartless nicely, they'll let you live."

"Oh, yeah, well, we're not all lucky enough to reach sixty like you!" Yuffie snapped.

"What the hell do you mean SIXTY?! You little brat!" Yuffie yelped and narrowly missed being skewered on his spear like a shish kabob. 

"HEY! Watch it!" she yelled, swinging her shuriken at him threateningly.

The Heartless, taking advantage of the momentary disorder among the two, rushed forward in a charge. Yuffie, noticing the swarm of black creatures running towards them, shouted in alarm and hurled her weapon at them. It struck one down and another on its way back, but the Heartless seemed indifferent to the small decrease in their numbers.

"Shit!" breathed Cid. "They're popping out of the ground like locusts!" Yuffie watched them with mutual disgust, backing away slowly from the oncoming slaughter. Her back hit the rough edge of a wall, and she tried inconspicuously not to panic.

"Dead end." Yuffie said hollowly.

Cid chuckled nervously and propped the spear in his hands. "Well, it's all or nothing, I suppose. Ready?" Yuffie, who looked more than slightly sick, nodded silently and crouched down for the inevitable battle.

Out of nowhere an armored monster materialized from the ground and lunged forward. "Watch out!" Cid yelled as the Heartless came closer, raising its claw to strike at the nearest human, which happened to be Yuffie.

"GRAVIJA!" A human voice cut through the roar of the Heartless, and Yuffie managed to open one eye in time to see the Wyvern become flattened like a moldy pancake with the weight of the magic spell.

It was a voice that sounded suspiciously like... "Aerith?" Yuffie called out hopefully, straightening up. 

"Bingo!" The voice answered her, its owner appearing from the corner of the street. It was unmistakably Aerith, although she looked a little tired and a few blood stains were crusted on her dress, including a long gash that ran across the length of her cheek. And the person who accompanied her had to be...

"Leon!" Cid said, running up to them. "It's about time you guys arrived. Ninja brat here was about to get a good kick in the ass if she wouldn't quit whining."

"Shut up," Yuffie retorted. She turned to Aerith, grasping her hand tightly. "What happened?" she asked breathlessly. "Your face...all this blood..." Yuffie glanced at the hand that was resting across Aerith's waist lightly. A crafty smile flitted through Yuffie's face. "Leon found you in time, didn't he?"

A fiery red blush spread its way up Aerith's neck, and she was sure that Leon was flushing heavily, too. She had forgotten that the warm touch of his hand was still there; it seemed normal, after a while. Quickly Leon took his hand away from her waist and stared at the ground in sudden embarrassment.

Cid rolled his eyes at the younger people and said gruffly, "Enough of that. The Heartless are still here, if you guys have forgotten." This announcement drew all of their gazes back to the black shadows slinking about, who were peering at the four humans covertly with their luminous bug eyes.

"There's more than I thought..." Aerith trailed off. _What will happen to this world? Will it disappear, too? Like Hollow Bastion..._ The thought made her sick, and unknowingly her hand tightened into a fist. _How many more people will die...?_

"And there's more coming. If we're gonna leave, we better do it soon. Before we get overwhelmed." Cid waved a hand at the dead end behind them. "I've stowed the Highwind there, and me and Yuffie made sure we got everyone inside. From District One, anyway."

"You mean, the people who live outside of District One are...?" Aerith said disbelievingly.

Cid shook his head and let out a long sigh. "Any that didn't make it to District One are probably dead."

"But-" Aerith argued, horror-stricken, "but you can't be certain that there aren't any survivors! We can't leave them here!" She turned back, ready to run to the doors blocking District Two.

Leon grabbed her arm gently but firmly, leaning close to murmur, "Aerith. It's too late. If we don't get off now, then none of us are leaving. There has to be some sacrifices in life, no matter how painful they may be."

The tone he used left no room for argument, but Aerith looked at him incredulously. "How can you give up on them? Have you forgotten what had happened before?!" Roughly she jerked her arm from his grip and walked a few steps away, trying to control herself.

The color in Leon's face immediately drained away as she said those words. It was a low blow, and everyone knew it. _I...didn't have a chance...I never wanted Hollow Bastion to fall..._ His hands balled up into angry fists and a feeling of inferiority washed over him. 

Yuffie shot Leon an uneasy look and walked to Aerith, trying to console her. "I'm pretty sure that we got everyone, Aerith. It'll be alright," Yuffie said rather unconvincingly.

Aerith shuddered in response, but remained silent. She didn't trust herself to speak.

Leon, who had regained a bit of his thought process, ran a hand through his hair and said monotonously, "We have to go. Now." Cid and Yuffie sent worried glances at Aerith, who stared at Leon impassively. She walked towards where the ship was parked without a word, ignoring Leon's half-desperate, half-furious look.

He sighed and began running to catch up with her, motioning for the others to follow. "Cid," Leon whispered quickly as they ran, "Is the ship prepped and ready to launch?"

"Yes. One-hundred percent," Cid answered without a trace of doubt in his voice.

"Good. Get ready to lift off as soon as we get on," Leon ordered, swinging out his gunblade.

"No problem." Cid ran ahead of them and was the first to reach the ship, smacking a button panel on the outside of the ship to slid open the door. He hoisted himself up and disappeared from sight, presumably to enter the cockpit.

"Yuffie." At the sound of her name, she ran up to Leon and waited for him to explain her job. "I want you to get on the ship and check that all the survivors are safe. When we start to leave, the Heartless won't let us go that easily."

Yuffie eyed the gunblade in his hand. "You're going to fight," she stated, getting the gist of his dialogue. 

Leon nodded. They were almost next to the gummi ship by now, with Aerith a little bit ahead of them. Quickly he threw a look behind him and saw the Heartless in fast pursuit of their prey. "When you get on, stay on. And...make sure Aerith is safe."

Yuffie nodded silently, bowing her head ever so slightly in acknowledgment. "We'll all get out safe, Leon. I know it." She turned and ran to catch up with Aerith, laying a hand on her shoulder as they walked side-by-side.

He watched them silently; Aerith was no doubt still cold to him after their heady disagreement, and he felt himself wish, a little bit unconsciously, that there might be a chance he would really _would _get out of here alive; so that he could tell her someday, "I'm sorry."

****

And he would mean it.

* * *

Ending notes: Thanks to all the 36 reviewers out there! Including repeat ones! As my gift to repeat reviewers(meaning at least two reviews), I currently have an AU Aerith-Leon-Cloud (another one, but much more mature/darker!) for you all! If you are one of the reviewers listed below, drop a review with your e-mail, and I'll e-mail you with the first chapter as soon as I get your review! Or, if you want, e-mail me instead of a review and I'll send it to you that way. My e-mail is: Butterscotchpup@aol.com [I'll be updating this list soon!]

Jenruki-gal4ever (Jenruki fan, huh? Well, I guess we differ somewhat...but that's ok!)

TheDancingCow

Snowri Leonhart

Mala Chi Xing

Aerith

Little Kaori solo Yuy-Maxwell

bass clef

Ghost


	5. 5 But it's too close

Yow! I spent half my Thanksgiving vacation cramming this out for you guys. Sheesh. I think I love my reviewers too much. I tried my best in making this longer, so I hope you enjoy! Also, I think readers made a **BIG** mistake: back in the last chapter I placed an endnote; what I wanted _people whose names I listed _was to _leave their e-mail in a review so I could e-mail the new story to them. _Please do so now! Thanks.

Disclaimer: Cut the crap and go on. --;

****

Project: Trinity

Chapter Five: But it's too close...

Urgently now the shadow monsters grouped around the entrance to the dead end, a mass of writhing black demons frenzied in an effort to withdraw their hearts. Grimly Leon watched them, the blade of his Lionheart glinting in the dim light of the street lamp as he raised it, taunting them to attack.

With what almost seemed a consensual smirk, the Heartless swarmed towards him in a rapid charge. Surely, if it was any weaker, gutless human, he would have bolted. But--and the grip on his gunblade reminded him with steadfast patience--he wouldn't, couldn't let Hallow Bastion replay itself.

A war cry escaped Leon's throat as he ran forward to meet the enemy charge, gunblade flashing in great silver arcs that sliced the monsters into bits. One, two, three--one by one the Heartless fell, exploding into purple-black dust and wisps of dark smoke. One, two, three--there were too many--and he knew in his heart that they would overwhelm him in the end, suck his heart out and leave his body to mingle with the fallen dust. 

Behind him, the whir of the gummi ship's engine kicking in rekindled new hope; at the very least, Aerith and Yuffie and Cid would get out alive; they would survive to guide the refugees; they would remain until....until...

While Leon was distracted, a Darkball bashed into his body with the force of a cannonball, knocking him heavily to the ground in a tumbled heap. With an air of glee the rest of the Heartless followed, ready to finish off this meddlesome human forever. Gritting his teeth, Leon parried a blow from a Shadow and raised his hand, calling forth the only magic available to him. 

"Fire!" he screamed, spinning off a slew of brightly-lit fireballs from the momentary vortex on his palm. The magic, sent out in waves, eliminated a large portion of the Shadows that had clustered together around him, but for the seasoned veterans of Heartless, well beyond a simple one-two hit, bore the brunt of his fire attack with only a few marks of damage. Exhausted from the extent of using magic, Leon sank back a few steps, his breathing harsh and laborious. 

The Heartless were coming out too fast; the Heartless could regenerate without a thought; their world was doomed, just like Hallow Bastion had been doomed so long ago... 

The Heartless circled around and around, slowly but with the smugness of knowing that victory was close at hand. "It's over," they seemed to say with their beady glowing eyes. "Your heart belongs to us!" In one final wave they swarmed towards his tired body. As he felt the first pinpricks of pain from the bites on his arms and legs, Leon closed his eyes, consoling himself with the fact that the others had survived. It would make all the difference...

"No!! You won't take him!" A scream tore into the thick night air, and suddenly the temperature seemed to be...cooler. Leon slowly opened his eyes and found himself staring at a huge block of glistening ice, not two inches away from his face. Inside, he could make from the icy blue surface two sharp fangs--a Darkball, encased in the brutal force of a Blizzaga.

Quickly he scrambled backwards as clumsily as his weary limbs would let him. The whole delegation of Heartless, even the floor, was sealed within a vast ice wall. Nor could more Heartless pop out from the ground, since such a strong layer of ice sealed that as well. There was only one person around he knew who had the power to do that.

He turned around, gazing directly into Aerith's blazing green eyes, who was standing a few feet away. She had run back to save him. Though her lips were set in a thin frown, he could tell by the color of her eyes that she had forgiven him. "Hnn....uh....I..." he gasped out in a poor attempt to use his vocal cords, which were non-functioning at the moment. Aerith uncharacteristically rolled her eyes, but an ever so slight smile twisted her lips.   
"Come on," she said shortly, walking over to him and grasping his arm, "We have to leave now." Leon groaned as Aerith's fingers, though gentle, touched his bruised skin. "Aaah...Sorry," she said as she realized he was in pain.

Leon smiled wanly and waved her apology away. "It's alright." He winced as he struggled to get up; every part of his body felt like it had been pounded by a sledgehammer. "It hurts like a bitch, but it's alright."

"Don't curse like that," she said with mild disparagement, sighing as she helped heave him up to a standing position.

Leon grinned in that devastating way of his and laughed. "Yes, mom."

He suddenly fell to the ground in a rumpled heap as Aerith let go of him and angrily stalked away into the ship. "Hey!" he called out a little desperately as he sat there helplessly, "I was just kidding, Aerith!"

Aerith poked her head through the door of the gummi ship and stuck out her tongue. "Walk by yourself, you loser."

* * *

"You didn't have to take it so seriously," Leon grumbled as he slumped down onto the seat. After she had made him beg for forgiveness, during which the gummi ship was on the verge of launching into space, she finally threw down a rope ladder and made him crawl up himself.

"Shut up," Aerith replied coolly, bandaging his wounds, "You deserved it."

He could have sworn that she was cutting off his circulation with the gauze bandage on purpose. "I did not." He scowled as he yanked his arm away and gingerly touched it.

"Baka," she muttered as he winced from the pain that shot up his arm. "Don't touch your bruises, unless you want them to get worse." The look Leon gave her would have been enough to mutilate thousands of Heartless.

The door to the cargo hold opened and Yuffie entered, plopping down on a seat across from theirs. "I've counted the refugees," she announced tiredly, jerking her thumb behind her to indicate the cargo area. "We have forty-nine men, women, and children."

Aerith covered her face with her hands, her voice coming out muffled. "Forty-nine out of hundreds..." she said in a strained voice.

"We had no choice." Leon touched her shoulder awkwardly. "It was either forty-nine or nothing."

"I wonder, though, where we're going to take them," Yuffie pondered. "We're lucky enough Cid had such a big gummi ship, but..."

"Displacement." Leon answered broodingly. They looked up at him expectantly as he paced the short length of the room. "We have to find a relatively empty world--or, at least, a relatively big one--where they can stay until...until everything's back to normal."

"Normal." Aerith echoed, a faraway look in her eyes. She let out a soft, cynical laugh. "Right. When everything's back to normal." She buried her head in her hands, fighting to maintain a shred of her composure. Yuffie and Leon exchanged worried glances.

"Aerith?" Yuffie said hesitatingly.

Aerith leaned back into her seat and pressed a hand to her forehead. "How many more of this can we take?" she asked monotonously. "Twice...twice we've watched the same thing happen...worlds destroyed...people killed...The worlds might return to normal after everything is said and done, but the lives...they'll never come back." 

"No, they won't," Leon agreed sorrowfully. _No, she'll never come back...because she's dead..._ The pain in his chest intensified. "But we promised each other...that we'd fight until the day peace comes back...so...we can't give up hope yet."

Silence filled the small room as they remembered. Yuffie was the first to stand up and break the emptiness. "I think I'll go check up on the old man...maybe we can find a world near here..."

Aerith and Leon both nodded silently and watched as Yuffie disappeared through the cockpit door. "Your arm..." Aerith said in a terse voice, reaching out to grab it, "I haven't finished bandaging it yet."

Wordlessly he held out his arm, managing to bite back a yell as she poked a bruise. "Hey!" he snapped, gritting his teeth, "Didn't you say you weren't supposed to touch it?"

She smiled with a hint of ...mischievousness? "Don't be a baby," she said, packing away her supplies. Leon only grumbled and slouched lower in his seat, staring out the window. She glanced at him with a mixture of sorrow and joy. _It's always both,_ she thought as she looked at his scowling features. _How can he be so strong when everything seems to be falling apart in front of him? Why am I so weak...? I feel like I can't bear another tragedy...that if I do, I'll...fall apart as well._

He must have felt her gaze on him, because he turned to look at her. She flushed and quickly looked down, focusing on putting away the first aid kit. Her hands trembled a little too much and consequently she fumbled with the glass bottles.   
"Hey..." Leon said quietly, staring intently at her face. She opened her mouth to respond, but no sound came out. "Look," he whispered, trailing a gentle finger down her cheek. It stung a little, but she was entirely riveted to his eyes. She was drowning in his blue eyes--eyes that reminded her so much of Cloud. "You have a scar..." he murmured as he traced the outline with his finger. 

Aerith smiled weakly. "Yeah...I hit the pavement when I fell..." She had to prevent herself from shuddering from his touch; it felt...right. Too right. _Remember...Remember Cloud...!_ she could hear her conscience screaming. _I'm not...I'm not doing anything! _she protested silently. _Leon's a friend._

Leon laughed softly, a uncharacteristic laugh that nonetheless seemed welcome. He touched her scar again. "You'll have it forever, I think."

"I know."

There it was, that smile again. The smile that could make her melt. "Well, I guess it's just one more thing we have in common, then."

"In...common?" she repeated, tentatively raising a hand to touch the scar that ran the length of his face. To her surprise, he didn't flinch, or tell her to go away like he normally would have done. "You've changed, Leon," she said softly.

His voice was rough, as if something--a memory, maybe?--was obstructing his vocal cords. "Haven't we all?" 

At the sound of the door opening, they jumped apart, each looking away guiltily, as if they had committed a crime. _Although, _Aerith told herself firmly, _we haven't done anything at all. Nothing. _As if in an afterthought, she screwed up her face and added silently, _shut up._

Yuffie dashed in, oblivious to the scene that had happened just moments before and chirped happily, "Cid's found a world close by! You can see it! It's right there!"

__

With her index finger she pointed through the rounded window at the large, bright planet hanging suspended in space. Though it seemed highly populated with numerous houses, one building stood out in particular: a rectangular-shaped arena, with lavish Greek columns buttressing the roof.

Leon grimaced as he stared out the window from his seat. He looked up at the both of them and announced dryly, 

"Welcome to Olympus."

* * *

[Is love in the air? I think so! Come on, say _awwww!_ I want to pop **the** question now, and I'll probably do so again later in the story:]

[Cloud or Leon?]


	6. 6 Behind the Crystal Wall

****

Author's [err...not-so-quick] Quickie: Yow! [What's up with me and that word, huh? It's like a catchphrase when I sniff too much white-out. x_x;] Yeah, to get back to the matter at hand...I got a unprecedented thirty-something reviews for my last chapter. You guys really love me too much. But don't think I'm complaining! Alright, you want a response to your responses, no? While a GREAT majority of readers cast their ballots of "CLOUD! CLOUD! CLOUD!", I was pleasantly surprised that many also added that they wouldn't mind either way, as long as I was snappy with the chapters. In addition, the lesser number of people who rooted for Leon wrote the best reviews of all. [Hey, I go for quality, not quantity! But both are nice.] I think it's an accomplishment to reunite previously indifferent Leon-Aerith supporters to Leon's ...err...better qualities. This chapter is loooong! As a present for those who dropped such nice reviews. As to the outcome of how this fated Trinity will turn out...well...that's for you to find out and for me to know!

****

Project: Trinity

Chapter Six: Behind the Crystal Wall

"Olympus, huh?" Cid muttered as they walked out of the ship and down the ramp. He twisted the straw in his mouth and added, "It looks...weird."

Leon, who had followed him out, propping up a slightly pale Aerith as he walked, frowned and said, "It's...bright." Olympus was certainly so; everywhere they looked, the sun was beaming down on the land. As their feet touched the clumpy green grass, Leon tilted his head towards Aerith and asked with a wry grin on his face, "Are you okay?"

Aerith just shook her head wordlessly, clasping a hand over her mouth to keep from retching. 

Moments before they were about to land, something had short-circuited in the control panel. It seemed that a gummi block had disappeared from the ship during warp drive, making landing a very uncomfortable possibility. Cid, ever so resourceful, had managed to temporarily crash land the ship on an empty stretch of green pasture. Of course, everyone inside, especially in the area around the cockpit, had gotten a good beating as the ship smashed into the ground.

Yuffie groaned and rotated her neck, rubbing the small bruises that were forming on her arms. "My body feels sore," she growled unhappily, "and I know I'm going to be black and blue by the afternoon."

"Stop your whining," Cid said gruffly, stooping down to examine the underside of the now-damaged ship. He ran a hand along the dented metal sides and shook his head sorrowfully. "My poor ship. Looks like we'll have to get completely new gummi parts if we're going to travel anymore."

Leon raised a hand to shield his eyes from the scorching sunlight. "I doubt we'll be traveling anytime soon. We don't know what people populate this place, or even if they're friendly." 

"We have to try, at any rate," Aerith said, regaining enough control over the chaos in her stomach to speak. _I'm never going on a gummi ship again, _she swore fervently to herself. _Or any type of transportation that involves crashing, for that matter._

"Yeah, of course," Leon agreed, nodding. He ran a hand over his hair and frowned deeply, taking a good look around the seemingly empty area. "But where do we start? It doesn't look like this place's inhabited."

"We can try over there," Yuffie said as she pointed to the grassy left side of the field.

Cid squinted in the light and scowled, "Why in God's name do you want to go there? It looks exactly the same as anywhere else! We could spend months walking in circles in this place!"

Yuffie's scowl deepened to match his. "Do you have any better ideas, old man?" she hissed furiously.

Aerith sighed and glanced at Leon beside her, who was gritting his teeth and massaging his temples with a vengeance. "Alright!" he interjected loudly, assuming reluctant leadership over the group, "Enough! We have to stop our habitual arguments if we want anything to turn out _right_."

Thoroughly scolded, Yuffie and Cid glared butcher knives at each other but kept silent as Leon racked his brains for a solution. "Hey..." They all turned to face Aerith, who had spoken. "Look over there." She pointed over to the horizon, where the verdant green hill curved downwards in a gentle slope. Something was coming towards them.

* * * 

It turned out to be an old man, who looked like he was beyond the prime years of his youth. Though he was old, his gait clearly showed that he was in no hurry to get anywhere, his long stick with a bell attached to the top cradled in his arm jauntily.

Leon approached him with more than a bit of disinclination. The man was dressed strangely; and, from the way the man was eyeing them, no doubt they themselves looked pretty strange and out of place to him, a native of this place called Olympus. "Excuse me," Leon asked stiffly, assuming his characteristically cold manner, "I was wondering if you might tell us where we are, and how we can get to the nearest city."

The old man sent suspicious glances at them and the weird metal wreckage behind them, but answered after a moment, "You're in the outskirts of Athens. The city itself is over there." He pointed a long, gnarly finger to the right, continuing, "You'll see a road as you go further down, and then you'll come to the agora, the center of Athens. Can't miss it."

"Thank you," Aerith said, bowing to the old man in respect. They turned to leave in that direction, having already told the Traverse Town refugees to stay inside the gummi ship for the sake of safety while they went out to explore the conditions.

The old man shrugged, much ameliorated to the group because of Aerith's show of gratitude. So much, in fact, that he had one other piece of information to share with them. "What's the matter these days, heh?" he called back to them. "Strange people have been coming and going."

Leon paused, stopping in mid-step to twist back and look at the old man. "How so?" he asked in a neutral tone. Aerith looked up at him, noticing the tautness in the shape of his jaw. _Was that a muscle twitching?_ she wondered silently. _What's Leon so afraid of?_

The man shrugged again, the bell on his stick jingling as he turned around to walk the other way. "People in chariots like that." He jerked his thumb to indicate the partially destroyed gummi ship. "Weird people. Some that don't even look human." His voice trailed off as he disappeared down the hill from general view, and Aerith had to stop herself from running after him.

"The Heartless?" Yuffie asked, a twinge of fear coursing its way through her skin.

Leon shook his head and reprimanded her shortly, "No. Heartless don't travel in gummi ships, remember?"

"Sora and the others, then?" Cid puffed out, chewing on his straw thoughtfully.

"Yes. That was one of the possibilities that occurred to me," Leon said, continuing to walk. Aerith watched him mutely, pacing herself to walk carelessly beside him. _And what were the other possibilities you thought of? _she couldn't help asking silently. He had looked so...desperate when the man mentioned other strangers in the world. Was it just her imagination getting out of hand again?

"Come on." Leon said slowly, looking up briefly from staring at the ground, "The sooner we get to Athens, the better." They treaded onwards without another word, each silently taking in the all-too foreign surroundings. The silence allowed for other things, such as remembrance.

* * *

After what seemed like hours to them, and what seemed like days to Yuffie, they finally saw the "city upon a hill", Athens. There was only one word to describe it...

"Crowded," Leon grumbled as the native folk jostled into him, sending him reeling backwards.

"Hey!" Cid shouted as a young boy slammed into him, leaving him sitting stupefied on the ground. "These people need manners." Yuffie, who was clinging to Aerith for dear life, squirmed as much as possible to avoid being smushed into the throng.

"Over here!" Leon shouted over the din, barely being heard by his colleagues. Aerith looked up and saw him motioning frantically to an alleyway across the path. Dodging the many tents and booths that were selling extraordinary wares, she dragged Yuffie along with her and flattened herself against the wall. "This must be the agora," Leon muttered. "The old man wasn't kidding when he said you couldn't miss it."

"You can't miss it even if you tried," Cid snorted. He searched around his pockets for his straw, which had disappeared in the rush. "Oh, dang. Lost it again." Yuffie looked at him strangely and rolled her eyes.

"What, is that like your security blanket?" Yuffie asked peevishly.

Cid sent her a dirty glare and patted his spear. "No, this is," he said threateningly. "And it's meant to skewer little brats like you."

"Where should we go next?" Aerith quickly interrupted, breaking the laser eyes they were shooting at each other. "It's impossible to wander aimlessly around."

"We need someplace to find out more information," Leon mused quietly. "Somewhere that would immediately draw foreigners' attention..." Aerith poked her head out of the temporary safety of the abandoned alleyway and looked up above the heads of the crowd.

It took her breath away. Obviously there were hills upon hills; a beautiful, snowy white columned building, enormous in size and delicate in detailed structure, sitting placidly above the rest of the city like a patron god. "Leon," she whispered, tugging on his jacket sleeve. "Look." She pointed to the glistening ivory staircase that lead up to the building.

Leon nodded wordlessly and twisted his head to face Yuffie and Cid, who had seen it too. "Let's go."

In unison they broke apart from the alleyway and headed towards the building. Though the crowd did its best to deter them from their goal, in the end they all made it up to the gleaming white staircase. The building looked even more monstrously powerful from up close; it sent shivers down Aerith's skin, raising goosebumps. 

"Well...up we go." Leon said, starting the climb up the stairs. With misgivings the rest of them followed, unsure of what would lie behind. Or if it would really matter.

* * * 

Cid gaped at the size of the structure, even though his chest was heaving from the excruciating pain of having climbed dozens of stairs. "It's....big...." he wheezed out, nearly collapsing against the big sign that was implanted on the walkway into the building.

"Olympus Coliseum," Leon read aloud from the sign, his voice thoughtful. He looked around, back down the flights of white stairs they had just come up from. It seemed that the Coliseum was a great festive arena, for many people were climbing the stairs just as they had done.

Yuffie twisted her face into a disapproving frown. "Coliseum? Isn't that where people kill each other and stuff?"

"They fight," Aerith corrected automatically. Luckily enough her readings from Hallow Bastion had not totally left her, though it was a daily struggle to remember things that seemed to have no worth. "They try not to kill as much as possible. You're thinking too much of Rome, Yuffie."

Yuffie shrugged indifferently. "Eh, same thing."

Leon, who had been listening to their part of the conversation, was dually engaged in reading the rest of the posted sign. "There's a tournament...and it's going on today." He glanced up to see Aerith's wondering stare and a brief smile flickered through his face. "That would explain all the people," he said, gesturing to the crowd that was forming at the stairs and the entrance to the Coliseum.

"Well, what are we standing around here for?" Cid asked disapprovingly. "I'd rather not be knocked down to the floor again by another mob, if you don't mind."

"Why can't they knock you down the stairs instead?" Yuffie muttered under her breath, and Aerith had to hide a quick smile behind her hand as she followed Leon through the curved double doors.

As if the Coliseum wasn't intimidating enough from the outside, the inside was even more lavish: around the enormous marble stage of the arena rose stone benches, where a large portion of people were sitting already. Nevertheless, despite the arena's awe-inspiring beauty, a deep prick of apprehension lodged itself in Aerith's chest and refused to be routed out. 

"Incredible," Leon muttered. "It feels...unreal. Being in another world that is technologically behind but so culturally advanced." They nodded in mutual consent and Yuffie pointed to the fairly empty edge of the second row. 

"Why don't we sit there?" she suggested, and with that well-known buoyancy of hers, ran over and promptly plopped down on a seat, clearly anticipating the show as if it was a circus event. Leon shared an exasperated look with Aerith and Cid and they walked over, taking seats beside the carefree and oblivious girl.

They waited a few more moments, taking the free time to scan the crowd for anything unusual or particularly helpful. Yuffie immediately lost no time in purchasing a bag of unrecognizable filled bread sandwiches from a passing vendor and offered each of them one, which they all politely but forcefully declined. It smelled too suspiciously of rotting fish.

"I wonder," Leon mused quietly enough so that only Aerith, who sat beside him, could hear, "if we'll end up staying here." He paused to pass a hand over his forehead, shielding his eyes from the rays of the sun, which shone brightly all the more so in the Coliseum. "So many things have happened...since Hallow Bastion."

Aerith opened her mouth to speak even though she had no idea what to say, but another voice interrupted her. "What are you searching for?" the voice said flickeringly, insinuating and dangerous. She nearly jumped, unsure if she was hearing things in her mind again, but the taut frown on Leon's face told her that he had heard it too.

"Heh," the voice chuckled, as if their anxiety amused him. The voice slowly took shape in the form of a strange dark man with a elongated face and--_Am I hallucinating?_ Leon wondered--blue flames for hair. "No need to be so afraid," the man said silkily. Leon scowled, ready to retort against the stranger's assumption that he was weak, but he was quickly interrupted. "Hey, hey. Don't get your hair in a tizzy, kid." The man leaned in close, as if engaging them in a conspiracy. _Who the hell is this?_ Leon thought with irritation. He was on verge of swinging out his gunblade to force the stranger away when--

"Are you looking for someone?" the man asked again. Leon froze in an instant. Aerith, whose frightened gaze had been darting from Leon to the stranger, dug her fingernails into her palm and swallowed painfully.

"W-why do you ask that?" she demanded unsuccessfully. It seemed the stranger was only interested in garnering Leon's attention, which he, for the moment, had ensnared.

The grin on the stranger's face grew wide, but to Aerith it seemed more like he was sneering than smiling. Yuffie and Cid, who had noticed the strained tension amongst the group, stared at the man with confusion. "The name's Hades. I can help you find...whoever you're looking for."

"What's the catch?" Leon finally said, his voice cracking at the wrong places. Aerith fixed him with an impenetrable stare. _Who are you looking for?_ she felt she had a right to insist on knowing, but vehemently remained silent.

The man--Hades, as he had said--chuckled yet again and placed his hands on the many folds of his dark clothing. "Oho! I see that I can't fool you. But why would I need to, hey? After all..." his eyes gleamed with a special wickedness as he spoke, "one good turn deserves another, right?"

"Bullshit," Aerith spat out in disgust. Not that she herself wasn't highly prone to accepting his tantalizing offer, but... _I'll resist,_ she swore to herself, hoping that her resolve was stronger than her temptation. _After all...he would never stoop down to evil to find me...If he can be a strong person...why can't I...? _But she was lying to herself; what she wanted, more than anything, was to find him... _Be strong._ She could almost hear his voice murmuring into her ear, as if he was right beside her.

Leon, though, remained in a gloomy daze, transfixed at Hades' haunting words. "Anyone?" he asked in a low voice. Aerith's eyebrows raised at his lengthy consideration of the demon's--for she was sure that this Hades was demonic, and her instincts never failed her--ludicrous offer. "Anyone we want?"

Hades didn't even flinch. "You got it, kid. Anyone. Even..." Hades lowered his voice and a crafty smile spread on his palsy gray skin, "the dead."

For a split second, Leon's gaze darted to the others and Aerith could see the turmoil that was so evidently broiling inside. He was like a frightened child, she dimly realized, wanting only to wake up and have someone tell him it was all just a bad dream.

"I'll do it." The words were barely out of his mouth when Hades, with a toothy smile, procured a pen and scroll for him to sign against the dotted line. Leon reached for it, but his hand was jerked away by a startlingly strong grip on his arm. 

His brow darkened and he looked up, meeting Aerith's furious eyes squarely. "Do you..." she hissed, wanting to seize him by the shoulders and shake him, "have any idea what you're doing?"

"Yes," he replied roughly, although his eyes were looking guiltily away from her.

"Then you do know you're selling your soul to the devil? He'll have you doing anything he wants! Is it worth it? How can you let go everything you've worked so long for?" Perhaps it was something more than fury that had her retorting so bitterly, but it didn't seem fair. "I though you were stronger than that."

Leon wrenched his arm away from her grasp, steadying himself to answer her. It would hurt her, but... "You're right. I have worked so long for what I believed was right. But screw that." When he looked up again, there was a fiery glint in them that almost made her step back. "I've worked so long, and for what? No matter whatever we do, nothing changes. Everything just gets worse and worse, until I think I'm just losing my mind! After Hallow Bastion, I thought, _if only I could get stronger...everything will be okay..._" He laughed grimly, dragging a hand through his tangled hair and fixing her with a glare. "You're not the only one who thinks that you've had enough. I've had enough, too."

"You're an idiot."

It was pure reflex that had Leon's hand snapping up to slap her in the face. At the last moment, Leon managed to curtail his volatile emotions and checked his arm so that his hand stopped inches away from her flushed face. Defiantly Aerith glared at him, silently daring him to attack her while her heart pounded crazily in her chest. As it was, Leon let out a hollow laugh that barely escaped his lips and he turned to a scrutinizing Hades. With one loop of the pen he had signed his name in untidy letters: Squall Leonhart.

Yuffie stifled a horrified gasp and she pushed her way forward, along with Cid. "What have you done, Squall?" she yelled. Normally he would have corrected her with an annoyed "It's Leon." routine, but this time...he was strangely silent. She pointed an accusing finger at him. "You almost hit Aerith, and now you're following psycho freak around as his guard dog? Are you insane??"

Leon fixed her with a patronizing glance, as if she was hardly worth his time and effort. What he had said in words, it seemed now he was putting them into action. Hades smirked, rolling up the scroll and placing it peremptorily into the many folds of his garments.

"Alright, kid," Hades announced, placing a friendly arm on Leon's shoulder, which he was quick to shrug off.

"Just because I'm serving you doesn't mean I like you." Leon said fiercely. "Get that part right."

Hades held up to his hands in an effort to show that no harm was meant. "Touchy." He led his new disciple down to the first row, away from his pesky companions. Leon could feel their enraged stares practically burning a hole through his back. He refused to glance back at them, knowing it would only mean more pain. For everyone. Hades continued, oblivious to his frustration, "Your one and only assignment: Kill Hercules."

"Hercules?" Leon echoed, the name failing to spark any memory. Though his heart twinged at thought of killing anyone human, he forced himself to strengthen his resolve. _It's for her...All for her._   
"Yes. A young guy with blonde/red hair, Greek, wears armor. A real asshole; he's been a problem for years. I need to have him done with," here Hades drew a line across his throat with his finger in case there was any misinterpretations, "and you'll get your girl."

Yes. That was all that mattered.

* * * 

"That bastard," she fumed, digging her nails into her palm with the force of a hammer, "We ought to let him stay here and rot."

"For the first time, I agree with you, Yuffie," Cid said soberly.

"No." They turned to stare unbelievingly at Aerith, who had spoken softly but with as much determination as she was able to muster with her frail conscience. "He doesn't want us to get involved, but that's what we're going to do anyway."

"But he was so cruel to you, Aerith!" Yuffie argued. "Why do you want to stay here and help that ass?"

Aerith grinned wryly. "Who says I'm going to help him? All I'm doing is watching what he gets out of this mess, if he gets out at all." The truth was, though, she was feeling a lot more insecure than she let out to be. _You idiot, Leon. You stupid coward!_ At the moment her brain was busily engaged in thinking up vile, hateful names to throw towards the man who was sitting a row in front of them, oblivious to all their glares.

Just then, a gong rang, and the arena was suddenly still. All the competitors [at least, she assumed they were, since they were all carrying weapons], including Leon, stood up and walked outside.

One by one, as the gong rang, the warriors stepped into the screened-off ground portion of the Coliseum to fight. Through the fervent exchanges of loud talk from the rest of the audience, Aerith could figure out that the matches went by Seed number, and the one who made it to the top would face a strange man named Hercules. Leon, who had started at number one, was slowly but surely making his way into the top ranks.

Cid whistled as he watched Leon dispatch a horde of Heartless soldiers without the slightest difficulty. "You've got to admit, the kid's pretty good," and he added quickly, "But he's still a bastard."

_Yes. Leon **is** good. Maybe we're just dragging him down. Maybe I'm just being selfish._ Aerith shook her head in a vain effort to clear her thoughts. No use thinking about them now, she chided. By now, most the crowd had realized Leon's worth and were starting to cheer for him whenever his fight proved successful.

As Leon finished off a group of Darkballs with only slightly more difficulty than the rest, the gong sounded once more. Allowed a short reprieve, Leon steadied his breathing and met her eyes, where she was sitting nervously on the bench in the second row. Immediately his look hardened and he glanced away, preferring instead to stare elsewhere. Aerith felt bile rise into her throat at his snub and she squelched the rampant urge to shoot a spell at him. The gong rang again, signaling the beginning of another match and the emergence of a new opponent. Leon tensed, hand immediately propping his gunblade up in front of him in pursuit of another battle.

The shadows that were in the enclave in the front of the arena began to move, and gradually the form began to take definite shape as it walked forward. Slowly, as if nothing rushed it at all, the light fell in bright waves upon the man, illuminating his body like an some oddly dark angel. Something painful twisted itself into Aerith's heart as she watched the man come out, as if she knew what was coming. And when the light finally shone on his face, she could find no words.

Because it was him.

* * * 

****

Ending notes: Ah. I'm so cruel, eh? Leaving you at such a cliffhanger. So what do you think will happen? Is this the end?

On a different note, I'm in a giving mood. This Thursday the 12th is my birthday, so I'm going to either 1) post the seventh chapter of this fanfic, 2) post an altogether different [AU, the one I had been hinting at earlier] Aerith-Leon-Cloud fanfic, or 3) write another fanfic from scratch. Any requests?


	7. 7 Death awaits us all

Author's Quickie: Mwahaha, the much awaited battle! Who shall be the victor, Cloud or Leon? [Notice how, in the game, both Leon and Cloud beat your asses the first time you meet them...is that _fair?! _;.;] Eh, I know I made Leon turn into a total bastard the chapter before...maybe you'll get a hint in this one about why. [Resentment, perhaps?] This chapter's rather short, but it's action-packed for your enjoyment! [Bleargh.] See you next week.

Disclaimer: Go on. Don't spoil the mood.

Project: Trinity

Chapter Seven: Death awaits us all

For a fleeting moment, she doubted her own sanity. _All right Aerith, _she told herself with an uneasy laugh, _you've really gone insane now._ Dimly she wondered what she had eaten that would give her such hallucinations [the sun glare, maybe?] but when Yuffie began clawing her arm, her mouth open wide in shock and a finger pointed crookedly at the man's figure, Aerith knew that she had no doubts.

To her absolute horror, the sickening thought that **_Leon_** was going fight him to the **death** sliced through her brain and left her reeling back in waves of nausea. Leon, who had never know him, wouldn't give half a damn who the hell he was facing. **Death.**

Something constricted tightly in Aerith's chest, squeezing her heart like one would squeeze an orange to make orange juice. She bent over in pain, dimly realizing Yuffie's shrieks of worry beside her ear and Cid's loud swearing farther off. _It was happening again_, she thought helplessly, choking on the tears that dripped down her cheeks. Her salty tears stung her skin as they encountered the still-healing scar across her face. _I've failed to stop it in Hallow Bastion...Traverse Town...now..._ _Are you haunting me?! Let me go!_

Agonizingly she tilted her head upwards to look at the arena, stubbornly ignoring the flashes of hot pain that seared their way into her stomach. He was there...whipping out his sword...icy blue eyes blazing with the familiar Mako fire...hands gripping his weapon as if he would never let it go, the way he had touched her face as if he would never let her go, either...

"CLOUD!" she screamed, breaking free of the pain that held her back, breaking free of the chains of tragedy life had wrapped around her feet, running towards him in a pounding fury that echoed in her eardrums. Her face was blotched with tears; it was a miracle she could still see between the blurs of water and managed not to trip on anyone; nothing else mattered, if only she wasn't dreaming...

His head jerked up as he heard his name, in a voice that sounded too impossibly familiar. Was his mind playing tricks on him again? Too long had he woke up from his dreams, clasping only the thin air left behind by the shadows of her sweet voice. Suspiciously his gaze darted around, cursing his weak heart that laid behind his strong body. _You'll never get anywhere, Strife, if you keep thinking she'll magically pop up in front of you,_ he thought harshly. Hades didn't approve of his weakness, but it was his weakness that he had exploited in order to Cloud to do his dirty work, after all. But why couldn't he let her go?

He watched as his opponent--a human this time, which was incredibly odd, since most enemies were either Heartless or monsters--tensed up in rigid shock. He watched as the young man's face contorted into something inscrutinable, a look that betrayed his surprise. The man's mouth dropped open, and Cloud thought--or, at least, he fancied--he was mouthing the words "You're Cloud?" soundlessly.

"Yeah," Cloud answered, a wicked grin flitting across his usually cold and immobile face. There it was in his mind, that voice again; _her_ voice. He shook it away, putting a damper on the wild emotions that raged through him. Here was the battle; the only thing that would bring her back. Steadily he held up his sword, wrapped with gauze so he would never have to see his own cursed reflection again in it. _Aerith would never love me if she saw how I look now_, he thought a little brokenheartedly. _This haunted look...something I can't shake._ The point of the sword gleamed like the scythe of the Grim Reaper itself. "I'm Cloud."

And he charged.

* * *

"CLOUD, NO!" she screamed as she watched Cloud ready himself for an attack , running down to the arena floor, shoving the misplaced chairs and people that were blocking her way aside. At the edge of the arena, she found her way sealed off; furiously she pounded the sheer veil, digging her nails into the shield when kicking it wouldn't work. Down below, Leon was parrying every one of Cloud's blows, a sick look on his grim face. The thunderous dim of swords clashing and the roar of the audience in glee drowned out her voice, which was very nearly bordering on hysterics. 

"Let me through!" she bellowed, jerking away from Yuffie's grasp as the young girl tried to still her. "Let me go!" _Now is fate twisted or what? _she thought with burning rage. "Stop them!" A whirl of blue smoke floated lazily beside her, finally condensing into a towering blue-haired figure. "YOU!" she shrieked, latching onto to his robes with the force of a lioness and shaking him like a rag doll, "You did this to Leon! Stop them! They'll kill each other!" 

Hades easily disentangled himself from Aerith's grasp, a long, fiendish laugh working its way up his throat. "Of course I did, babe," he drawled with amusement. "Coliseum rules are rules. Death is the only way I can stop them. Why would I stop them when this was what I wanted all along?"

"You!" Aerith thundered, sparks of lightning cracking in her hands, approaching him with anger rolling off her in waves. Yuffie's eyes widened as she witnessed Aerith harnessing her magic and she turned to Cid, who was watching Hades with a mixture of loathing and alarm. "You...ass!" With a quick snap of her hand she launched a fizzing ball of electricity that struck Hades square in the chest and had him doubling over in pain.

"Damn...you're...strong." Hades gasped out, giving her a toothy grin. "Looks like I underestimated you. But even if you do kill me, you won't save your friends. They won't hear you over the silence charm placed over the arena. Cloud's run out of his helpfulness anyway, and I've no more use for him." Hades chuckled and straightened up, meeting Aerith's infuriated but slightly puzzled glare. "Tournament rules are rules. Fight until death. Unless you possess enough power to break through the veil..." Hades smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, then, I can't stop you. But you should know no one's been able to do that before. Zeus's charms are more powerful than mine, girl."

With a poof of dust and a horrible, chilling laugh that sent shivers down her spine, Hades disappeared from sight. Yuffie shot a glance at the heated battle that was still going on without abatement. "Poor Leon," she breathed. "He's really trying not to hurt Cloud."

They all looked on desperately at the battle that was raging inside, so close but so isolated from the rest of the Coliseum. Cid snorted, though his voice was cracking in the wrong spots. "Him? He couldn't hurt Cloud if he tried." He regarded the surge of power that seemed to course its way through Cloud's body as he pursued the offense, and added sorrowfully, "It seems Cloud's been pumping iron while we were gone. He's more powerful than I've ever known before."

_It was true_, Aerith mused thoughtfully. Cloud seemed stronger, more confident of his abilities, if anything. But there was also something in the look on his face, that told her instinctively that not everything was okay. _Come to think of it...why is Cloud here anyway? Why did Hades say he had no more use for Cloud...?_ No. She refused to think of it. What mattered now was Cloud and Leon's safety. What mattered now was that the both of them come out of there alive. And so she stood there and tried to be logical, tried to ignore the throb in her head, ignore the ache in her chest. But all she could think about was the irony.

* * *

"What's the matter, huh?" Cloud grunted as he took another stab at him with his Buster Sword. "You didn't get all this way by simply being a _coward_." 

The guy was taunting him, Leon knew. Instead of becoming enraged and committing a hasty mistake, Leon smiled wanly and blocked his attack. "Your mind tricks won't work on me, Cloud."

Cloud's face darkened perceptibly and he lunged at Leon, swinging his sword in a wide arc that nearly cut into his jacket, had not he rolled away at the right time. "What's with the familiar tone? _We've_ never met!" he hissed, springing away from Leon's uppercut.

"No," Leon admitted. "But I know someone who has." Though it hurt him to think of her, he felt he owed that much to Aerith to at least help her reunite with...with her old friend. _Old friend, huh?_ he thought to himself. _That's an understatement. _Even to himself, the voice in his head sounded...bitter. _Get over yourself, Leonhart,_ he snapped impatiently as a renewed offensive by Cloud nearly nicked him in the head.

"Oh, really?" Cloud retorted sarcastically, unwilling to believe his words. "Well, then, be sure you introduce me to them when I _see you in hell!_" Even as he was taking another swipe at Leon, Cloud was already beginning the transformation. 

Grunting as he rolled to the ground to dodge one of Cloud's slices, Leon sprang up and the strained look on his face shifted to one of utter disbelief.

_The guy had grown wings._ That was all he could think.

* * * 

"Oh my God." Silence overwhelmed her and she stumbled back, landing straight onto the marble floor. Her shock was so great that she didn't even make an effort to get up, but simply stared at the winged demon Cloud had become. "Oh my God, Cloud. What have you done?"

* * *

Ending notes: My, my. _Another _damn cliffhanger. _How_ in the world do I pull it off? 

In response to some reviewers who think Aerith's cursing is out of tune with her character: she's hasn't been portrayed much in KH, and for her, swearing is just a way to voice her oft-kept in feelings. It's natural. I doubt that anyone hasn't sworn at least once in their life.

AND!: I have another fanfic up, called **Astray**. You might want to check it out...leave a review or two... ^^;


	8. 8 Losers, Weepers

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Author's Quickie: Hi. Again. I know, I know: I'm terribly late with this chapter, and I'm terribly sorry. One fault was my life, the other fault was my damn AOL connection, which blocked me from entering ff.net for a week. Sorry! Anyway, prepare for gasps in this one...

****

Project: Trinity

Chapter Eight:

Losers, Weepers.

Somehow, it was starting to make some fragmented sense in her distorted mind. Cloud had worked for Hades. Cloud had become a demon. Cloud was going to kill Leon. O-kay.

With a scream of rage Aerith hurled a fizzling white ball of electricity at the screen, her anger multiplying as the shield appeared unharmed. "CLOUD! LEON!" she shrieked, banging on the wall once again_. It's hopeless._ Her magic was useless. She was weak, she was stupid. Slowly she sank to the ground in despair, nodding her head against the luminescent veil. _After all this time...the time when I finally get to see Cloud...he won't get to see me..._

"Aerith..." Yuffie began, tears welling up in her eyes. She crouched down, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder, "Aerith, don't cry..."

That made it even worse. Aerith turned and buried her head into Yuffie's shoulder, her eyes turning blotchy and overflowing with salty tears. "I wanted to see him so much, Yuffie," she wept, gritting her teeth. "But...not like this! Not when one of them is going to die!" _Calm down, _she murmured to herself. _Calm down. You won't help them this way..._

But what was she to do?  


* * * 

"WHY WON'T YOU LISTEN TO ME?" Leon roared, dropping to the ground to avoid another of Cloud's aerial sweeps. "I'm only trying to help you, you idiot!"

"I don't need your help," Cloud sneered, lunging forward to attack. "You can't help me."

Frustration was _not _helping him, either. "Stop! There's someone here! She wants to talk to you!" Leon desperately tried again. Panic was fighting a quick battle with his emotions. His stamina was weakening fast. Whatever he had anticipated, it was not a fight with an overgrown bat hybrid. 

Cloud hesitated a moment, his sword lowering slightly. "She?" _Her _voice again, whispering into his ear, her tinkering bell-like laugh...was it really just his imagination? Or was she really here? No. Self-consciously he felt himself harden. There was no logical reason to believe that Aerith would suddenly appear out of nowhere to come and fall into his arms. No reason to believe the his opponent, weary from battle, would tell the truth. "Shut up," Cloud said coldly, bringing his sword up once more to attack, "I won't fall for your lies."

If he had time for it, Leon would have groaned as he ducked Cloud's earth-shattering blow and rolled away to another corner of the arena field. As it was, he had only enough to time to gasp out feebly, "You don't understand!" And then, _again_, he had to duck. _If I ever survive this, _he thought resentfully, _I'm going to give up fighting forever._

Cloud, feeling frustration working its way up his head, cursed vividly and faked a swing to the right that had Leon dodging again, as he had suspected. With a powerful overhead blow he brought the sword crashing down on Leon, who sidestepped it in time so that it missed his head. Still, Cloud was satisfied to see that his attack had not totally gone astray: the crimson blood that his sword had drawn dripped down steadily from the gash in Leon's black jacket.

With a low grunt Leon dropped down to his knees, his hand placed over the edge of his chest. Desperately he heaved in deep breaths, trying to ignore the hazy outlines that were swimming outside his peripheral vision. _Am I...dying?_ he wondered hazily, forcing himself to remain conscious. _Focus, Leon, focus. _But the pain that burst between his fingers like thousands of heated needles could not be ignored, would not be ignored. His life was slipping away.

With what was left of his consciousness, Leon slipped his other hand into his jacket, his numb fingers touching the pedant that always hung around his neck as if in tribute. He looked up in agony to see Cloud's booted feet stop short of him. With a blank grin, Cloud raised his sword, his eyes devoid of emotion, as he prepared to strike the killing blow.

"Goodbye," Cloud murmured, an eerie smile playing on his lips. _Kill_.

* * * 

She felt it. She had literally felt Leon's pain when Cloud's sword pierced his jacket and deeper still, into his ribcage, crushing all the fragile bones that protected his chest. Such intense waves of pain slammed into her that it left no room for crying out; unsteadily Aerith rocked back and forth, nursing an invisible wound.

Still, as she looked up and saw Cloud, the demon (Oh, but her heart screamed out at her not to belittle him that way!), raise his weapon in that familiar downward stance reserved only for the end, she broke apart.

"CLOUD!" she screamed, lurching to her feet like a wobbling drunkard. With a shriek she smashed her hands into the crystal veil, tears breaking out anew as the wall refused to give ground. _No. Don't do this, Cloud. Let him live,_ she pleaded, pressing her face against the cold, translucent shield in misery.

She could almost taste the sharp tang of blood as she imagined, in fleeting images, how Cloud would kill him: the flash of silver, biting against skin; the inevitable scream, the crumple of Leon's body under the weight of the sword; Cloud, sliding his blood-stained weapon out of his victim's cold body, would turn around and see her. And he would grin.

_Let him live._ Hot tears dripped down her face as she tried to banish her horrible thoughts away. _I need to save him. Both of them. I won't let this happen..._

Aerith took a step back and gazed at the wall for a moment, feeling an unbearable weariness settling upon her shoulders. All she wanted to do was curl up and go to sleep, where only hauntingly beautiful dreams, and no nightmares, would visit her. As it was, she found herself throwing up her hands, tilting her head back, and words that had no sound poured from her mouth. _Help them. Save them._ _Save our future._

Dimly her mind registered that something was happening around her, somehow that the earth was shaking, but she paid it no heed. Power as she had never known before overwhelmed her, as if some invisible hand was flicking all the power switches on at the same time in her body. _Power_. She could taste it, such a seducing thing.

A loud eruption noise startled her out of her induced coma, and she jerked in humbling shock as she saw what she had unleashed.

A monster.

* * * 

As weak and dazed as he was feeling now from loss of blood, he could still vaguely record that the ground was not staying still. A succession of loud explosions, tremors, shot through the arena and crevices appeared, uprooting the firm ground of the Coliseum. Off to his right, Cloud had been thrusted to his knees by the impact, his gaze darting around in alarm and confusion.

_What was happening? _Squinting, Leon caught a flicker of unbearably bright light from afar, behind the shimmering veil; like a star itself had descended from the heavens. And behind that, something more: a dark hole? No. A vortex, something that reminded him of a warp hole. A dark shape was rearing out from it, coalescing into a recognizable form.

"GRIEVER!" he screamed, stumbling to his feet with shock, his hand still rigidly clamped around his pendant chain. He was able to take approximately two steps forward before another set of quakes disrupted his balance, and he tumbled to the ground in a messy heap.

* * *

Ending notes: NOooO! Leon is...dying! It was quite a wrench to put that in, but I had to. Oh, and I know that some of you think I'm belaboring the fight too much, but--you'll see my ulterior purpose in the end! 'Bye until next week.


	9. 9 Finders, Keepers

****

Author's Quickie: The long-awaited conclusion of the battle[between Cloud & Leon, anyway] is finally HERE! Eh, are those trumpets I hear in the foreground? Well, anyway, this is the _end_. No, not of the fanfic, but of...yeah, okay, right, moving on... I seriously hope some of you don't come torching my house or anything of the like after you read this. And, again...a beautiful, neatly-wrapped...cliffhanger! Mwa, I am so cruel.

As a side-note, thanks for all the feedback! I was incapacitated with fever this week, which was why I couldn't finish this chapter in time. I promise I'll be on schedule 

from now on! [I didn't even notice I spelled infernal "inferno"! Gah!] [And I don't really think UltimaMoOgle's fanfic really parodies Project Trinity at all, because it's quite dry humor. I think he was parodying Aerith fics in general.]

****

Project: Trinity

Chapter Nine: Finders, Keepers.

_What **is** that thing? _Aerith wondered in horror, her curiosity struggling vainly with her fear. _Have I summoned...a Heartless?_ She was so confused, so overwhelmed; by now, she no longer doubted that anything could be impossible.

The mythical beast plunged out of the dark shadow, landing onto the marble floor with an explosion-like thud. Rearing back its dark tresses, the part-lion, part-monster emitted a loud roar, shattering the eardrums of everyone within vicinity of the Coliseum.

"The...King of beasts..." Leon panted, gritting his teeth as he propped himself up by the elbows. The grainy sand that was packed into the arena ground rubbed against the sores and cuts on his arms, and it took all his willpower not to break down and cry with fatigue. _Hang in there,_ he screamed at himself. _They need you._

Cloud's eyes narrowed considerably as he watched the gigantic monster pace restlessly around the edge of the veil, black breath pouring out in wisps of shadowy smoke. "Griever, huh?" he repeated, recalling what his opponent had shouted out a few moments before. A challenge? But it was not his fight; he would do only the bare minimum, and nothing else, to regain what he had lost. The beast was interfering with his work, but...a shadow of doubt crept into Cloud's mind, and he regarded Griever with suspicion and wariness. How could anyone defeat such a monster?

Griever swiveled its head, shaking his mane of black feather-like hair, its gaze falling upon the girl who was cringing with fright next to one of its paws. As Aerith looked up at the dark eyes of the monster, a connection seemed to float up from her and into the monster. _I summoned you?_ she found herself asking silently.

The beast almost nodded, a comical sort of action coming from a so ferocious-looking thing. _Will you help me?_ she ventured, praying against despair that the Gods had heard her plea. Her finger shot out, aiming straight at the center of the Coliseum, her resolve hardening. "The veil! Break it down!" she ordered, mustering all of her spiritual strength.

Its answer was another ear-splitting howl, and, launching backwards onto its feet, Griever flattened itself down and flames erupted from the deep pits of its fanged mouth. The heat was unbearable; even standing away a few feet, Aerith could feel the temperature skyrocket in the Coliseum from the fire as her summon went about destroying the barrier. _Well,_ she thought with a hysterical giggle, _at least they won't be able to fight anymore!_ She was losing it; her grip on reality seemed to slacken, and she was drifting away, away... Would she let Griever go after she had accomplished...whatever? Did she have to? Couldn't she keep it, like a loyal pet, her only friend, forever and ever? Why should she give that power up? The power to destroy worlds...came only once in a lifetime! _Ansem knew what he was doing,_ Aerith thought knowingly, an odd smile crossing her face.

_Boy, did he._ She was giddy from the rush of it all; white strands of her magic wrapped around her wrists, digging deep into her tender skin, drawing blood in thin rivulets. But she was giddy; she did not care, did not want to care. So tired...

"Go!" she exhorted to her companion, "Destroy it! Destroy...everything!" Power was hers, hers to keep! With power, who needed anything else? Drunk on it, nothing else could compare. There was no reason to fall victim to the woes of love when one could seize power and reign forever, a Queen among the damned. "Destroy!" Aerith started laughing, laughing as the flames collided with the shimmering, twinkling curtain.

* * * 

_First earthquakes and now a fire?_ Leon was stunned to imbecility. What was happening? The ground rumbled, hurling chunks of rocks across the arena in its fury, and beyond the veil the monster was still lurking, belching out great streams of fire.

"Get up!" Cloud muttered as he ungraciously hauled Leon to his feet. Leon would have jumped if he had the strength for it; first Cloud was a pitiless bastard and now he was trying to help? Unsteadily he tottered to his feet, his hand pressed against the gash in his chest. "What is that thing?" Cloud asked, his fierce gaze pinned to the unassailable monster.

"A...summon," Leon panted out, his free hand drawing out the pendant chain, where the emblem of his namesake dangled. Curved in a gleaming arc, the lionheart shone a dazzling silver as it struck the sunlight. "Griever...the most powerful guardian

force in all the worlds!"

Cloud cursed vividly, swinging his enormous blade over his shoulder. "Which gives us a pretty good chance of beating it, eh?" he asked sarcastically.

Leon stared at him, his mouth agape. "It's not a heartless," he snapped, gritting his teeth as more blood gushed through his fingers. "You can't just give it a good whack or two and think that it will evaporate into dust. A monster like that will keep coming after you, even after it's dead." He dragged his gaze up to where the Griever was still unleashing his attack, the veil temporarily withstanding the brunt of the flames.

"If this keeps up," Cloud spoke up, voicing Leon's fear, "that shield will break." He grinned sardonically as he met his eyes. "And then we'll be burnt to a crispy fritter."

"Great," Leon groaned, his knees sagging, "Do you have a death wish or something? You seem rather happy about that."

"No," answered Cloud calmly, his glance unfaltering as he eyed Griever, "It's just that I have no more reason to live on."

A twinge of guilt vibrated in his chest as he looked at Cloud's stoic figure. Should he tell him that maybe all was not lost? _But Aerith... _Leon sighed and clapped a weak hand on Cloud's broad shoulder. "Perfect. Save the morbid stories for later; right now, we need to figure out if there will _be_ a later." 

"Where did it come from?" Cloud asked him, folding up his one wing so that it took up less space and therefore helped him regain his balance.

"I...don't really know," Leon confessed, running a hand over his sweaty face. "Someone must have summoned it. But who?" he questioned aloud, before a severe cough had him doubling over in pain. 

Cloud waited for the effects of the cough to pass before stating mildly, "You're coughing up blood."

He grinned sarcastically, wiping it away with his sleeve. "You hit hard."

"Yeah. People tell me that," Cloud replied, idly wiping away the flecks of blood from his sword. _What's wrong with this guy?_ Leon wondered. It wasn't that Cloud lacked a human side...it was just that it was an offbeat, unused, bizarre one. It was as if Cloud wasn't accustomed to using it, and so had let it wither and shrink until it could hardly be seen anymore. _Odd_. _But then, isn't that what you did too?_ Leon rebuked himself silently. _Isn't that how you treated life until Aerith came along?_

He sighed and leant on his gunblade, forcing himself to refocus. "Someone must have summoned Griever. Someone with a lot of innate power, because it's nearly impossible to command him. Griever's...hard to handle, and he's been called for evil too many times." Something sent his brain skittering into mental overdrive.

"But why would anyone want to summon him? There isn't any logical reason." Cloud scowled deeply as he watched the attack, patience being one of his weaker attributes. "Why in the world would anyone care about stopping the fight?" 

Leon almost howled as he stumbled to his feet, his eyes glinting with a fiery madness. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" he yelled at himself, wanting to bang his head on the wall. "Of course, I'm such an idiot," he said sadly, gripping his painful chest.

"Care to share?" Cloud asked icily.

"Why bother," Leon sighed, sinking to his knees. _She'll be corrupted...if she doesn't stop herself in time...she'll destroy all of us...or else destroy herself. _The thought of Aerith, gentle, laughing Aerith... _No. There has to be a way. _"You know, in your heart, who summoned Griever. Think for yourself, Cloud."

"What kind of cryptic answer is that?" he asked in irritation. "How the hell am I supposed to know?"

"Think," Leon replied simply. He wasn't willing to say her name. That would be his to keep... "Who would do anything for you, just as you would do anything for them...?"

"If you think..." Cloud began, his anger starting to erupt. But then he took a good look at his adversary's face and saw unexplainable tension embedded in the simple youthful good looks and the reckless scar that marred them. _Who would I do anything for? That's easy..._ he thought harshly to himself,_ Who did I give up my humanity for, anyway? _His eyes widened, tensed, twitched erratically as Leon's words found a target. "You're lying. She couldn't be here."

Leon smiled grimly at the irony. Shifting his weight from his one unbruised leg, he tottered closer to where Griever was standing. "Ah, but I said that before, didn't I?" he called over his shoulder, his voice seeming to fade away as he stumbled onwards. "You just didn't listen."

"No!" His scream was a desperate one, one that broke all the barriers he had placed in front of his heart. _Don't say it... Don't say she saw me at my worst, when all I wanted for her was the best..._ Cloud whipped his head around, a look of absolute fear and agony frozen in place on his face. 

"AERITH!"

__

* * * 

Ending notes: Okay, okay, so the battle, in reality, is still going on, but the focus has shifted. The next chapter, though, _will_ have an ending. Not for the fanfic, but...an ending. Let's just keep it a surprise for now, okay?


	10. 10 An Old Friend

Author's quickie: Hey everyone! So how have you guys been in the past...month or so? Sorry, sorry, sorry! I know I was supposed to be on schedule, but it just didn't work out that way. But! Have no fear, the last chapters are here! I am estimating that there will be only two more chapters to this series [I think], which means less procrastination on my part. Thanks to the readers who have stuck by this fanfic for all its chapters; you guys are incredibly supportive!

Oh, and I think everyone's in for a shocker this time around.

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Chapter Ten:

An Old Friend

A jolt ran through her spine as she heard someone call her name; where was she? What was she doing? Like a mist that had been blown away by the wind, everything took on a different atmosphere. She could see, and remember, the euphoria she had been experiencing momentarily gone. _Griever. That's right...I've summoned Griever... _

Aerith looked up at the monster, confusion knitting her brows together. Griever. Where had she gotten that name? Where did she remember it from? Somehow, an image of Leon always came up whenever she ran the name through her lips. Oh, that was right. Leon had a pendant of it hanging on a chain., she remembered. He would tell stories of his birthright, the "Lionheart", and even though she had no idea what he had been talking about, it saddened her to see the derisive scowl on his face whenever he mentioned anything to do with his past.

A hand flew to her mouth as she remembered more recent events. That was right. Leon. Leon and Cloud. Fighting...! She whirled around, her loose brown hair brushing past her elbows, the ribbon dropped somewhere and long forgotten. Squinting, she could see two shadowy figures behind the heavily-damaged veil, one leaning slightly on the other. They had stopped fighting, thank god. With a sigh of relief, she ran towards them, deciding to use the last of her magic to break through, when something made her stop.

Her eyes widened incredulously as she found herself, strangely, unable to move forward another inch. "What--?" she said, glancing down at her body. _Threads?!_ Shimmering white strings were wrapped tightly around her neck, arms and legs, branching off out of sight. Frustrated, she started to flex her wrist, only to find that the threads were digging into her skin more painfully than before. Aerith winced as the blood dripped steadily down her pale skin, dying some of the strings crimson. Bit by bit she could feel her consciousness fading away; she was losing too much blood. 

"Leon...Cloud...help...me," she whispered weakly, before sinking into the shadows.

* * * 

_I've been a fool, all this time. Trusting Hades when I should have known better...not trusting Leon when I should have known better... Stupid, stupid, stupid!_ But there was hardly any time for self-loathing, when there were much bigger problems to attend to. 

He had caught up with the wounded Leon, helping him stand up a little straighter by offering him his shoulder. "What do we do?" he murmured anxiously, looking up at the veil and monster.

Leon coughed a few times before looking at him, smiling grimly. "Inside, we can't do crap. Outside, we might have a chance."

"So you mean..." Cloud stated bleakly, "we have to wait for Griever to break down the veil?" When Leon's answer was a self-contained smirk, he groaned. "Well, that sounds easy, and it probably won't take long anyway." Already the veil was starting to crumble, and after a few more good shots from Griever it would dissipate completely. "So," he said, straining to make light conversation, and to ask the question he had been wanting to ask all along, "how do you know Aerith?"

Leon grimaced. He was expecting something of that sort from Cloud. "Umm," he fumbled, shrugging as he talked, "I had lived in Hallow Bastion as well. After the...the first explosion...I was able to escape. I crash-landed at Traverse town, and I sort of stumbled into the others. We started to rid the Town of the Heartless, and we just banded together." In a nutshell, he thought to himself. Of course there was much more, but he didn't quite feel like indulging at the moment. He had questions for the guy, too. "Look, I think it's almost time." Leon pointed up at the ceiling, where severe cracks were forming in the gossamer fabric of the veil.   
"Oh, goody," Cloud said, a frown crossing his face. "Let the fun begin." 

"And," Leon couldn't help adding quietly, "whatever happens...we have to save Aerith." He turned away, ignoring Cloud's fixed stare, and held up his hand. Immediately they were surrounded by a bluish shield. "Aero," he said in explanation, bringing out his gunblade. _I don't have nearly enough magic as Aerith does, but...let's hope it's enough. _He doubted it.

Cloud pursed his lips together tightly, choosing instead to remind him of his condition. "Are you sure you can make it? You don't look too good." It was a massive understatement; besides the blood that dripping steadily down his clothes, Leon could feel himself growing dizzy and pale.

He gritted his teeth, shaking his head to clear the cobwebs out. "I'll live." _Long enough_, he added despondently. He looked up just in time to see a burst of flame and what looked like shattered glass fall from the sky. "Watch out!" he shouted, diving to the side. Luckily enough, Cloud had reflexes like a cat and dodged it in time, the debris of the veil kicking up a huge dust storm.

__

"It's broken!" Cloud yelled, dashing forward, his buster sword extended wide for an assault on Griever. Cursing, Leon scrambled to his feet and ran after him, shouting at him to be careful. Obviously Cloud hadn't dealt with Griever before; he wouldn't know that offensive attacks were worthless, and at most a physical attack would graze the skin, not the heart. 

When the dust finally settled down, Cloud slowed to a halt, his eyes wide with incomprehension. His sword clattered to the ground, creating a metallic ring as it fell useless from his hand. Slowly he shuffled forward, like an old man. "Aerith?" he whispered fearfully, shaking his head in disbelief. It had to be a dream. Or a nightmare. "Aerith, what have they done to you?"

She was standing right before him, her head lolling about unconsciously, her eyes closed tightly as if in death. Her arms were stretched out, bound in the air by glimmering white threads, which bit into her skin, blood seeping out everywhere. Blood, blood on her arms, blood on her legs, blood everywhere. A nightmare. She looked dead.

"AERITH!" Cloud screamed, trying to run to her, only to find himself held back by Leon. Furiously he kicked out at him, straining to break free from his grasp. "Let me go! Damn you, Leon, let go!" While the both of them were distracted, Griever smashed a fist the size of a dining table into the ground. Instinctively Leon pushed themselves out of the way, the blow missing them by half a foot. 

"Idiot! Don't you see?" Leon hissed in his ear, although Cloud could pick up the worry radiating in his voice as well. "She's dying from the threads! But if you cut them, they'll just grow back! Aerith's been caught in a net. She won't be freed so easily."

Quickly Cloud shoved him away, seething with barely contained anger. He was right. Leon would know more about Griever than him, and his anger didn't help. Cloud forced himself to take deep breaths, and reached over for his sword, the handle of the blade warm. He could handle this. Levelly he gave Leon a placid stare. "So now what?" he asked, keeping his voice neutral.

Leon glanced at Griever in the background, who looked like it was awaiting orders. From whom? Surely it couldn't be Aerith, who seemed lifeless, nor Yuffie or Cid, who was slumped unconscious against the benches a few feet away. He had to hurry; if Aerith wasn't already dead, she soon would be, from loss of blood. _Focus, Leon, focus. Just like before. Griever. Griever, remember? _Aerith had summoned it; did it mean they would have to...kill...her? No, he swore fiercely, that was impossible. _Look. _The threads looked as if they were branching off somewhere. Someone was controlling her. Someone was controlling the both of them. Who?

A chill ran down his spine as he wondered who would have this much power. He turned to Cloud, a bit hesitant as whether to ask him the question. "Cloud, do you know anyone...particularly powerful?"

All of the blood drained out of Cloud's already pale face, but he forced himself to say, "Yes. But why? You don't think...there's somebody behind this?"

"That's exactly what I think," Leon stated grimly. "And I don't think I'm too far off, either. But who is the person you think it is?" Mindfully he glanced up Griever, who was, for the moment, pacing back and forth in the back. As if whoever it was wanted the both of the them to have this conversation.

"It can't be," Cloud said flatly, refusing to believe it. After all, he was...dead. It couldn't be. "There's only one person I know...and he's dead." It made sense, though, it really did. The bastard would have laughed to see this happen. Cloud pressed a trembling hand to his face, steadying his raw nerves. "...Sephiroth," he whispered finally.

As if on cue, an unsettling laugh echoed throughout the abandoned wreck of a coliseum. Cloud and Leon both jumped, Cloud searching frantically for the owner of the voice. "Sephiroth, you bastard!" he yelled, swinging out his sword. "I should have known it was you!"

A single, solitary dark purple orb bounced off the top of the stands, ringing with a loud, jarring screech. When it reached the bottom of the platform, it writhed and stretched grotesquely, taking the shape of a silver-haired human crouching down on the ground, dressed completely in black. It unfolded itself, its feral grin the first thing Leon noticed. _I'm getting really bad vibes from this guy,_ he thought worriedly, his grip on the gunblade tightening.

"Long time...no see, Cloud," Sephiroth said smoothly, shaking his bangs out from his forehead. He straightened, teeth bared in a vicious leer. "And this will be the last."

* * * 

Ending notes: AHHH!! Where did he come from??? I wasn't expecting to throw the S bomb your way, but the opportunity was too good to miss. So...questions? Comments? Anyone want a Seperith? No, no, just joking!! [Not an avid fan of Sephiroth/Aerith, you see.]


	11. 11 The Truth

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Author's Quickie: Okay! Another long hiatus before I finally posted! I hope this one's as good as the others! Some answers need to be revealed, and I decided to add another chapter, so there will be two more chapters after this one. No spoilers for you! Enjoy!

****

Oh, and a great, big, THANK YOU! to all reviewers. I hit the 200 mark! Whoo-hoo!

Project: Trinity

Chapter Eleven

Cloud was making every effort to keep his gaze steady and unwavering as he looked upon the existence of a man who had haunted him for years, but his hands were clenching and unclenching into fists erratically. _So here he was! _Cloud thought bitterly, detesting the all-too smug expression upon Sephiroth's pale face. _No matter where I go, no matter how many times I kill him...!_

"You haven't changed a bit," Cloud said fiercely, forcing the words out though they burned on his tongue. Sephiroth laughed easily, a harsh, chilling laugh that sent shivers down Leon's spine. 

Slowly Sephiroth advanced, his heavy boots clanking on the debris that had been showered everywhere, until he was on eye- level with them. "Did you expect me to, Cloud?" he asked, evidently amused. "Do I still haunt your dreams?" Cloud jerked back, surprise written on his face at being read so clearly. Another laugh escaped Sephiroth's lips, and he reached out to touch Aerith's cold cheek. "Just like this one," he said, almost reverently. Although Aerith was still unconscious, bound by all the white threads, Leon could have sworn she flinched at his touch.

"Get-away-from-her," Cloud hissed, gritting his teeth together so that they made a grinding sound. "Touch her, and I'll kill you where you stand."

Sephiroth glanced up, grinning at the rage overtaking his adversary's composure. "Oh? Sensitive, I see. Too sensitive for your own good, Cloud; you should know by now that feelings are extraneous. Afraid I'll kill your precious love again? Afraid you'll have to watch her die in front of her eyes, like last time?" he taunted. Nevertheless he took his hand away, and lifted it up to gesture at the waiting monster behind him. "Do you really think you can defeat me, Cloud?" He chuckled darkly, daring him to answer. "I am stronger than you shall ever be."

"I defeated you last time," Cloud retorted, his voice icy. "And though I failed to kill you as I thought I had, I won't make the same mistake twice." Leon glanced over at him, his mind a jumble of random thoughts. So Cloud and the intimidating silver-haired guy he called Sephiroth knew each other; evidently they both knew Aerith. _They're talking too much, _Leon thought warily. _And all the while, Aerith's blood is being drained._

"You had your friends then. Where are they now?" Sephiroth smiled cruelly, knowing he had hit a vein. "Dead, except for those two fools over there," he said, waving a hand at the unmoving bodies of Yuffie and Cid by the stands. "And I was careless; I won't be careless today." He flexed his fingers, emitting a greenish glow from the tips of them. "I have Griever at my command; and I have control over Heartless. They do not care one whit for Ansem, but for the power he wields. Mine is so much greater."

"You had this all planned out," Leon spoke, suddenly coming to a terrible conclusion. Sephiroth turned to face him, a wry grin plastered on his face. "You knew we were coming--you sent the Heartless after Traverse Town!" he accused, the heat rising into his face.

"Very good," Sephiroth acknowledged, baring his teeth in mockery. "But you're not exactly the brightest crayon in the box, now, are you?" he sneered. "It's too late now. The trap has been laid, and you have walked into it willingly."

"How could you?" Leon asked, disbelief etched into his pale face. Sephiroth merely regarded him with a faint smile, tilting his head ever so slightly to the right. "How could you destroy a whole world just for the sake of revenge?" It went against everything humanity stood for. How could he? Even though Sephiroth had exactly the same bottlegreen eyes as Aerith that seemed illuminated from the soul within, there was no gentle aura around them, no empathy. They were cold, colder than the Heartless' eyes. Was he...insane?

"It's no good preaching to him," Cloud snarled, a muscle in his jaw twitching. "The egotistical maniac is too far gone for that." Quickly he stooped to the ground and hefted up his sword. "The only way, now, is to fight." _Fighting words._ Yet that were all they were, to flush out the ice that was steadily encasing his blood. He was scared; he was scared that he would, possibly, fail Aerith again. _Not once, or twice, but three times..._

"I won't fail this time!" Cloud yelled, running up to where Sephiroth was waiting calmly, the blade of the sword gleaming in a silver arc. As he swung his sword at Sephiroth's neck, something painful bit into his shoulder and he stumbled. Thrown off balance, Cloud's gaze darted up and saw a large gash forming across his back. "How--" he said in disbelief, watching as Sephiroth landed neatly a few steps away, the edge of his Masamune covered with a fine layer of blood.

"Cloud!" Leon yelled as he ran towards them, having seen how fast Sephiroth had darted out of the way of his attack, "Cloud, he's too quick for you!" Suddenly awakened from his stupor, Griever slammed a massive paw down in front of Leon and he leapt back instinctively, gnashing his teeth together in frustration. 

"This is not your fight," Sephiroth said lazily, waving a careless hand at Leon. "Since Griever is your mortal enemy, I've no doubt you shall be much more interested in your own battle than to meddle in ours." He turned back to face Cloud, who was staggering heavily to his feet. "Please, don't overdo it on the melodrama. It was only a scratch," Sephiroth observed, pressing a finger down on the Masamune's flexible blade.

_Scratch, my ass!_ Cloud thought irritably, annoyed that Sephiroth had managed to dodge and inflict the first blow. Evidently Sephiroth hadn't been joking when he said he had gotten stronger; the sword had cut deep into his flesh, just centimeters away from slicing bone. His cloak had been half-torn off from that single attack. Rustling up his resolve, Cloud circled his enemy warily, noting the lack of concern on his face. "So you set us up. Clever."

"Wasn't it?" Sephiroth replied almost cheerfully, a smirk crossing his lips. "But you were always just a puppet, Cloud. Never forget that."

Sephiroth always knew exactly what to say to set him off. Cloud charged, ducking from the flames that burst out of the palm of Sephiroth's hand. Quickly Cloud brought up his sword, jabbing and thrusting at every moment where he could muster the strength. Blow-for-blow Sephiroth blocked, the Masamune twisting in his hand as he swung it wide. In a rapid series of strokes Cloud was sent onto the defensive, refusing to cave in even though he was steadily being pushed back simply from the force that went into Sephiroth's attack.

A short distance away, Leon was busily engaged in dodging his own troubles. His gunblade, which had never failed him of its own accord before, was almost useless in inflicting any sort of damage onto the massive form of Griever. "Damn you, stay still!" he yelled, rolling on the ground on his stomach as Griever made a swipe at him. Coughing from the dust that was filling his throat, he felt a throb pulsating beneath his shirt. Disconcerted, Leon drew a hand in and brought out his pendant, which was glowing an eerie green color. He could feel the cold silver throbbing in his palm. "What the hell?" he muttered, jumping away as Griever attacked again. 

Grunting as he hit the sand, Leon watched the monster out of the corner of his eye while he tried to figure out why his pendant was behaving so weirdly. _Come to think of it...how had Sephiroth known about Griever, anyway? He's not from my world...and neither did Aerith..._ He rose, scanning the empty arena for signs of Cloud and Sephiroth. He found them locked in a standoff, though Sephiroth looked as if he was gaining the upper hand. 

"Give it up," Sephiroth sneered, pressing the Masamune dangerouslyclose to Cloud's white neck, sparks flying off from where the Buster Sword was striving against it. "Give up now, and I'll let the girl die a quick death."

"Fuck off," Cloud spat, delivering a sharp kick to his midsection, breaking the weaponlock. They immediately jumped apart, circling each other guardedly.

"Fool!" jeered the silver-haired swordsman. "I have her life in my hands!" As if to prove his point, he reached out and tugged at an invisible string beside him. Wordlessly Leon watched as Aerith's eyes shot open in response, but there was nothing behind the lided glass eyes. Cloud cried out when he saw Aerith move ever so tentatively in the net of strings, but stopped as soon as he took a closer look.

Void. Her whole expression was void and blank, having no emotion at all. Her skin was pale, pale white, and she looked more alive when her eyes were closed. "Aerith? Aerith, answer me!"Cloud pleaded, trying to run to her. He stopped as the blade of Masamune as placed against his throat. 

"Painful, isn't it? Cry all you want, but she won't awaken. But I prefer that you do cry; makes for lovely memories," Sephiroth said lazily, drawing the faintest hint of blood from Cloud's neck. "She is my puppet now, just as you are my puppet. There are things worse than death."

Broken, Cloud glanced at Aerith's blank stare. "Why?" he whispered softly, so softly even Sephiroth couldn't hear. "Why does everything happen when I want to see you the most?" The Aerith-shell gazed on, unblinking. "When I want to tell you what I've always wanted to say..."

"Sephiroth!" Leon yelled hoarsely, running towards them with the pendant clasped tightly in his hand. "Sephiroth, let her go! You--you coward!"

The pupils in Sephiroth's eyes contracted ever so slightly. "Name-calling is not particularly mature," he said dryly. "And you are of no consequence, in any case." He waved a hand, and Griever reared back on its haunches and let out an ear-splitting roar. With a howl, the monster lumbered after him.

"You are nothing but a coward!" Leon said fiercely. "You don't have enough power yourself, so you needed to tap into Aerith's magic to call out Griever. All the plans that you set up...if you were truly confident, you wouldn't have needed them! You're not powerful at all, you deluded egotist!"

Sephiroth's green eyes glittered malevolently in the thick silence. "I was thinking of letting you die by your own guardian's hands...however...it shall be much more of a pleasure ripping you apart limb by limb." He cast out a hand, and instantly icicles shot up from the floor, welding Leon's feet firmly in place.

Numbly Leon looked on as Cloud and Sephiroth renewed their battle, though Cloud was showing signs of weariness, in the half-hearted way he was blocking attacks. Despite what he had said, Leon knew that Sephiroth had so much more power than they did. It was just the way his blood had boiled at the way he referred to Aerith as a puppet... _Wait. He said something about a guardian. Griever is my guardian? What does that mean?_ He glanced down, and the silver Griever pendant gleamed in the sunlight, an unearthly green. Then again, he remembered the jolt he had felt when Aerith had summoned Griever, as if something was being tugged out of his heart.

_Griever...comes from me?_ Horrified, he dragged his gaze up, where the clang of striking metal rang in the echoing arena. Cloud was forced down onto his feet, nevertheless still straining against Sephiroth's more polished sword skills. Leon glanced at the sword still gripped tightly in his left hand, where the monster had been carved into the blade. _Aerith had drawn Griever out from me...my guardian..._

It was true; it was all too true.

Sacrifices. He would have to sacrifice, if any one of them were to come out alive from this battle. He had to save Aerith, and save her dream; whatever else, he would compromise. He had given up once before, when another beautiful, charismatic young girl had crossed his path; he would save Aerith, this time. Summoning up the last of his magic, he focused and nearly cried with joy as the fire flickered from his fingertips, weak, but still there. Casting off any further regrets, he aimed his hand downwards and sent the fire roaring along the ice, melting it quickly into harmless water. After a brief moment, he kicked out and the rest of the icicles shattered into tiny glass pieces.

Launching into a flat-out run, Leon saw with dismay why the last few minutes had been so quiet; Sephiroth had managed to hurtle Cloud's Buster Sword away, where it lay useless by the other side of the arena. Forced onto his knees, Cloud glared up at Sephiroth's glittering eyes with more than just hatred, ignoring the Masamune blade pressed against his throat. Laughing, Sephiroth dug the edge of the blade into the tender flesh of his neck.

"Now," Sephiroth said, baring his teeth in a sneer, "You die."

* * *

[Ending notes: Waii! Will Cloud face his doom? Will Aerith ever awaken? Is Leon going to be killed? So many questions, so little time...see you in Chapter twelve!

*Special Note*: to the 201st reviewer, WildRinoa: As a gift, I'm going to write a Kingdom Hearts fic for you! Drop me a review telling me any suggestions, or your preference for the couple(s). I would have given the choice to the 200th reviewer, but it was anonymous... :(]


	12. 12 The Devil's End

[Author's Quickie: Sorry, once again, for the delay! Impediments abound in my life...(mainly SATs, homework, and my own hectic lifestyle). Anyway, don't let the title fool you. This isn't the last chapter, but rather the next-to-last chapter. Chapter thirteen will be an epilogue, of sorts. So...what were you anticipating, eh? They just might come to fruition....]

Disclaimer: Haven't put up one of these in a long while! I don't have ownership of Squaresoft licensed...things. Just pretend it's omnipresent at all times.

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Project: Trinity

Chapter Twelve: The Devil's End

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Lost within a sea of dreams,

forever drowning in your tears.

Look up towards the sky, and, maybe...

you'll see my soul amongst the stars.

Curiously, she felt no pain, no fear, no panic. It was nice and simple, like watching everything out of a television screen, remote from the comings and goings of former loves and past enemies. Detached, Aerith looked out of glazed eyes at the thunderstruck face of Leon, and the two clashing figures to the side with little more than apathy. Who cared, really? Life and death, death and life...one revolving wheel, of which she was just one tiny spoke. Who cared?

She could just float away...

* * *

"So," Sephiroth drawled in smug amusement, bringing the curve of the blade up and forcing Cloud to look at him, "Any last words? The curses and unholy epithets usually reserved for me? Sayings of endearment to your long lost love, perhaps, before you pass out of this world?"

His face carefully blank, Cloud nevertheless glared at him out of lidded blue eyes. "Fuck off," he said derisively, turning away. _This is it_, he thought, trying to steel himself for the inevitable blow, _no more pain, after this. Just eternal oblivion. _The sweet death, even though death was hardly ever sweet. Once again, his love was thwarted--once again, death would keep them apart. _Aerith, I'll see you again...till everything is over...I won't give up. _The afterlife--was such a thing possible? He hoped so.

_Until a thousand years has passed...I'll wait for you._

Closing his eyes, he waited for death to embrace his soul. 

It never came.

A sudden whoosh passing by his left ear told him that Sephiroth had struck--just as a warm, sticky crimson-colored liquid streamed down his arm--but there was no pain. Death was supposed to be painful. With wide eyes, Cloud stared uncomprehendingly at his hand--still moving--for a few moments, his brain knotted into a tight twist and unable to function. Sluggishly he tried to move the rest of his body, and found that something was on top of him that was preventing it. 

Perplexed, he watched as a black-gloved hand dangled limply in front of his face. His stomach curling, he reached up and tugged the body over onto the ground. His heart stopped as he realized what Leon had done. _The fool!_ Cloud thought angrily, though what he was angry about he couldn't say. _Jumping in front of Sephiroth's blade...!_

"Looks like you've made a new friend," Sephiroth observed, his lips twisting into a sneer, "But it's a little too late for much to come out of that now."

"Why--" Cloud muttered, grabbing Leon by the jacket and shaking him desperately in an effort to get an answer, "Why, you fool?" Leon's eyes flickered open weakly and he made an vague effort to smile.

"It had to happen," Leon said, his head feeling unbearably heavy as the pain in his chest increased with the laborious effort of speaking. Slowly his fingers held up the pendant, where the Griever emblem had once hung lustrous and gleaming. In its place was a carving--but no longer bright, no longer beautiful, no longer a masterpiece of craftsmanship. The pendant was tarnished, rusting right before his eyes. _Impossible!_ Cloud thought violently. Impossible...! 

In the background, he thought he could see Griever rotting before his very eyes. He was sure he wasn't just imagining the guttural, animal screams of pain. _What had happened?_

Another deafening scream resounded in his eardrums, the voice sounding peculiarly like someone he knew, and Cloud whipped his head around to see Aerith hunched over on the ground, her shoulders shaking. Her hair tangled into wild knots and with her eyes wide and overflowing with tears, Aerith scrambled up, an unmistakable look of dread fixed onto her face. Emotion. She was feeling, showing, emotion. _She had broken out of her shell._ Cloud's heart leapt.

Sephiroth's face became a distorted look of fury, and his voice was seething cold anger. "So," he hissed, the Masamune quivering in his grip, "He figured it out." He touched his temple with the tip of his index finger with a mocking sneer. "You're smarter than I give you credit for, Squall Leonhart, but no less a fool." A sharp bark of laughter escaped his lips as he floated up, his solitary wing outstretched lazily. "Fool," he scoffed, gathering a black orb of crackling energy in his hands, "To save your own enemy who would have killed you in battle moments before...you would sacrifice yourself!"

Burning with irrelevant anger, Leon stumbled to his feet and yelled, "What would you know? You, who destroyed worlds for one measly, pathetic little vendetta... Using me and Aerith just to gain your precious revenge..." His hands shook as he clenched them into fists, the pain of the wounds searing through his whole body like liquid fire. _Fight. Fight it. It's almost over..._ "What right do you have to preach to me about what I should do?!"

The amused look died out in Sephiroth's eyes, and he regarded Leon with a cold glare. "She said that to me, too," he said, jerking his head to indicate Aerith's quivering figure. He raised his hands, the power coursing throughout his whole body, engulfing him in a gleaming robe of black. Like a scythe, the Masamune quivered in anticipation of the blood to be shed. "But it does not matter, anyway. May you rot in eternal oblivion!"

In a downward strike the sword flew, and Cloud knew instinctively there was no dodging this blow. All of a sudden, a blast of white light from the side knocked Sephiroth away, and he crumpled to the ground, eyes wide. "What the--" he muttered uncomprehendingly.

With deliberately slow steps Aerith advanced, her trembling hand held out in front of her. "Stay-away-from-them," she gritted out, tears of anguish sliding down her cheeks. She finally understood; Sephiroth had been sly enough to realize her special connection with Leon, and Sephiroth had used that to his advantage. It was Sephiroth who had planted the spell to summon Griever in her brain, Sephiroth who had played the clever role of manipulator by bringing Cloud to fight Leon in the arena, Sephiroth who had known how poisonous Griever would be to any magic wielder. _But I..._ But when Leon had taken the fatal blow, it had shattered her summoning spell--broken the threads she had weaved around herself and banished Griever back into the void. Torn away from her reverie, she had found herself in the midst of a battle for life. And while she had been wandering...Leon had suffered. Inside she felt her guilt mounting. She had been the one who had started it all.

She stopped, protectively shielding Cloud and Leon from his wrath. "Cloud," she whispered, her voice burdened with anxiety, pain, and fear. Behind her, she could hear Leon's breaths coming out in shallow, laborious pants, the breathing of a man who was dying. _It wasn't supposed to be like this._ She dared not turn around to face them, either Cloud or Leon. _My fault._ "The killing blow," was all that she could manage to say.

Without a word, Cloud nodded and rose, picking up Leon's discarded gunblade in one hand. _No emotions_, he told himself, readying himself to accomplish what he hadn't done for so long_. Just anger. _Sephiroth glared up at him, and, faster than the eye could see, let out a burst of black fire that streamed out of the palm of his hand.

"Flare!" Sephiroth screamed, his eyes glowing with cruel malice. He would not lose. He would not lose...! He had so much at stake! He needed his revenge...!

Cloud leapt back from the flames from sheer instinct, but Aerith had realized Sephiroth would put up a last-ditch effort. "Wall!" she cried, forming a luminous shield around Cloud, even though a part of her wanted to retch at the reminder of the crystal veil she had so unknowingly destroyed. The flare spell bounced back from the invisible barrier, dissipating into dust. Seeing the opportunity to strike, she screamed, "Cloud, now!"

Swinging back his blade, Cloud dashed forward with a loud cry, the tip of the Lionheart shining with bright white light, the light of Holy that Aerith was trying so hard to secure. "Omnislash!" he yelled, his hand moving with well-practiced fluency. _The killing blow! _Right, left, up, down; his arm swung this and that, the blood pounding thickly in his ears as he ignored Sephiroth's howl of despair. In a final, downward slash, he pierced his enemy straight through the heart. He doubted that the bastard even had one.

Sephiroth's face twisted into one of fury--and then he disappeared into infinite black dust, so very much like the way the Heartless had died. There was nothing left of the man who had caused so much misery.

The gunblade fell from Cloud's limp hand, an enormous burden finally released from his shoulders. _Peace...at last. Aerith..._ He turned around, wanting nothing more than to enfold her in his arms and shed the tears he had held back for so long. He found her kneeling on the ground, Leon's head resting loosely on her lap. Something was wrong.

Aerith looked up at Cloud, the tears still running down her face like rain.

"Leon..." she choked out, a look of pure pain etched on her beautiful features, "He's dying..." 

* * *

[Ending notes: Please don't torch my house down, Leon-Aerith lovers! Alright, so readers finally know what my plan is! But don't get so smug yet... The next chapter, number thirteen, will be the last. Exactly a week from today, on Thursday, April 10th 2003, I will post up chapter thirteen. Can you wait until then? Alright, see you next week!] 

**Psst, Wild Rinoa! Want to be more specific? What setting, Kingdom Hearts or AlternateUniverse? Love triangle or one-sided? Supernatural or modern setting? Give me some hints here, okay? I want to do a good fic for your reading pleasure!**


	13. 13 Death is Bliss

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Project: Trinity

Chapter Thirteen, the last:

Death is Bliss

__

What we want in life

Is not always what we want in death.

-Anon

Leon's breathing was quickening, growing shallow and more strained as he struggled to hold on to what consciousness he still had. His vision was receding, returning, and receding again, while some things were just constant blurs. He knew what was happening. Quickly he grasped Aerith's hand, his face twisted with inner pain.

"I guess...this is our last time together," he said weakly, holding her slim fingers inside his own rough hand. "I want you to know...it was...one of the best times in my life, being able to be with you, Yuffie, and Cid...wandering around Traverse Town, protecting the world the way we thought we could." He smiled faintly, despite the agony of moving his facial muscles. "You guys have replaced the family I've always wanted. And...in some small measure, I hope I replaced the friends you've lost."

"Leon..." she wept, forcing the tears from falling, forcing herself to be able to look into his eyes and resist from breaking down. She had caused all of this. Everything. Even if it was Cloud who hurt Leon, he had done it for her...Even if Sephiroth had planned everything, she was the one who made it possible... It all came back to her... "Leon, don't go. Please, I'll find a way to save you!" Desperately she held his cold hand up to her cheek, focusing miserably on the light that had once come so fluidly, so easily. But there was no light; it had disappeared when Sephiroth disappeared. Everything was dark and miserable, just like her. Just like her.

Yuffie and Cid, groggy with fatigue from the spell that had been woven on them by Sephiroth, came to stand wide-eyed and silent behind her, each crying a tearful farewell. It seemed surreal. It couldn't be happening.

A few steps away stood Cloud as well, his face a mask of expressions. But she didn't care anymore about Cloud. Not yet. Not while there was Leon, dying in her arms, his life slowly but surely slipping through her fingertips like rainwater. All because of her.

"I'll save you!" she screamed, on the verge of hysteria, pulling inside at the magic that did not exist. What had once been given so freely, so beautifully, was extinguished. Her magic was gone. She would have felt better if her arm or leg was severed instead, so heavily did the loss weigh upon her. Her magic had caused everything, and now it was gone. The traitor!  
He shook his head, a wobbling of the neck that seemed pathetic even to himself. _No more energy...So close..._ "It's no good. You won't be able to save me. But it's alright." Softly he brushed her cascading tears away with his finger. "You've found what you've been looking for. Be happy," he whispered.

Instinctively Aerith twisted her head around, her gaze flying over to look at Cloud, standing just behind Cid. Just as quickly she turned back, shuddering uncontrollably. She could not bear to look at him now. She was miserable, so miserable... "You can't leave me, Leon. You can't! I need you! _We_ need you," she sobbed, clutching onto his hand as if she could somehow transfer life through her fingertips. She could, once. She had saved the world, once. She had been a sacrifice, no matter how unwilling she might have been--but now the tables were turned, and she couldn't face it. Never. "Please...I can't stand it if you're not here! Don't die...don't die because of me!" There, she said it, as much as she ever could.

He smiled weakly, trying to pull off a chuckle that didn't quite make it. "I'm not," he said simply. "Everyone has to die sometime, Aerith. And don't worry...I'm not blaming you for anything, because..." He couldn't finish that sentence, not when Cloud was standing a few feet away, his blue eyes cloudy. "Because we're friends."

_Friends?_ Was that all? Was she the only fool around here, to believe in something that could never exist? But who did she love...? Cloud or Leon? Why couldn't she think straight, and not delude herself? "What about our home? What about the Heartless and Hallow Bastion and...Rinoa? What happened to your promises, Leon?!" she yelled, forcing the name out of her mouth like poison. "Are you going to let everything _rot_?"

"No..." he coughed out, blood trailing down his jacket in red streaks, "I...leave them to you. Help me, this one last time...help me do what I couldn't...and move on."

"You...you bastard!" she screamed, flinging his hand down. "You stupid idiot! Why are you so stubborn? Can't you even fight for your own life?!" Her words from before came back to haunt her. She was denying it; she was denying everything. She didn't want to know, didn't want to move on. She wanted him to _live._

With his last breath, Leon's lips twitched into a faint smile. His voice was quiet and raspy, the voice of a man who was resigned to his fate. "No, because...I fought for yours." Dazed, Aerith watched his eyes close forever, his hand slipping down to the ground with a soft thud. She waited for his hand to move, to show some sign of life, and the minutes ticked by. Yuffie stifled a broken sob, and Cid just turned away, shaking his head.

"You...you..." Aerith stammered, her eyes wide but unfocused as the tears slipped down to splatter on her dress. He was....dead? No, no, surely it was a trick. It had to be. Aerith reached over, shaking him gently, a hesitant smile on her face. "Leon? Wake up, please. I'm sorry; I didn't mean what I said. Okay? Wake up. Wake up!" she pleaded, digging her nails into his jacket. No response. A trick. It had to be... "LEON!!!" she screamed, desperately pounding on his chest with her fists. "LEON, NO!!!"

A hand was placed firmly on her shoulder, and she spun around, knowing that, somehow, it was Leon. It had to be... "Aerith," a voice said, hazy-sounding to her ears, "let go. It's...no more use. Leon's dead." 

"Eh?" she answered stupidly, her head still swimming. "What are you talking about? You're right here." Satisfied, she wrapped her arms around his neck, a little bewildered when there was a lack of hair in the back. Didn't Leon have long hair? Oh, well. It didn't matter. Leon was alive; that was all she cared about. "I'm so glad you're not dead," she said, giggling a little. "You shouldn't trick me like that, Leon."

"..." Silently Cloud looked at her as she hugged him, emotionless. He had gotten good at not showing emotions. Aerith still believed Leon was alive; she thought _he_ was Leon. _What had happened these last nine years? _What had happened to make the gap so yawning wide? What had happened when he wasn't there...?

"Aerith," Yuffie cried out from behind, her eyes overflowing with tears. It was too much. Poor Leon, poor Aerith...and poor Cloud. "Aerith, don't be like this...I know it's hard, but...Don't pretend."

"Pretend?" Aerith tilted her head to the right, an insane grin on her face. "What are you talking about? Leon's alive. Can't you see?" She turned back to Cloud, a glassy look in her eyes. "Right? Tell them, Leon."

"Aerith, stop," he commanded forcefully, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her roughly. "You're the one that needs to wake up. Yuffie's right; you have to stop pretending. I'm _Cloud_, not Leon. Leon is dead."

Aerith clapped her hands together, laughing. "Oh, you guys shouldn't joke around like that! Leon can't be dead, he can't be..." _Slap!_ Her head jerked violently to the left as Cloud slapped her, a twisted look of pain on his face. "You..." she cried, bringing a hand up to her red cheek.

"I'm not Leon. I'm Cloud. Wake up. Please," he begged, his hand shaking. He hadn't wanted to hit her. But he couldn't let her go on like this, with that crazy, haunted look on her face. After nine years...was this what he got? Nine years of torture, and at the end of the rainbow was this...?

"Leon...Leon is dead..." she whispered, the terrible truth finally dawning on her, sinking to her knees. Her hands balled up into fists, which she ground into her eyes sockets to stop the tears. "He's dead..." Aerith held up her hands, which were smeared with Leon's darkening crimson blood. She remembered that Leon had crimson wings painted onto the back of his jacket, remembered the day he had asked her to paint them. She looked behind her, where Leon's body was still on the ground, his eyes closed. "He's really gone." _He's gone...He's really gone._

With an anguished scream she staggered to her feet and ran out of that hideous place, the place where all of her dreams had died so suddenly. Dreams with Leon, dreams with Cloud... _Gone! All gone!_ She could hear the others shouting after her, could hear their footsteps as they ran to keep up with her, but the blood that was pounding in her eardrums was the only thing she paid attention to. _"No, because...I fought for yours."_ His last words. "Oh, Leon," she cried, stumbling over the rocks that were in her way. There was an enormous lake that she had seen from the gummi ship; she needed to wash the blood off her hands, wash it all away. "All I wanted...I'm sorry! I'm so sorry..."

"I never got to say anything. But..." Aerith came to stop near the edge of the cliff, where the lake's crystal-blue waves broke against the rocks beneath. _But..._ Some distance behind her, she could hear the others' voices, frantically yelling at her to stop. _But...It's alright._ She looked back, catching sight of Cloud's horror-stricken face, his lips opening to say the word _No_. One last enigmatic smile graced her lips as she threw herself in, the water immediately surrounding her with its cold, ethereal touch.

_We'll see each other again, someday..._

* * *

[Ending notes: Ah, done in a true Final Fantasy manner: Hello, cliffhanger. (FFX grated on my nerves a little bit, with the pseudo-FFVIII ending; I suppose the producers just wanted a loose end to tie up in FFX-2. Poor excuse, in my opinion.). I'm sure those last words will haunt some people...and maybe it should... So ends **Project: Trinity**; any comments, tearful rantings, cold denials, death threats? Requests to continue? I've been juggling around some ideas so far, but I need to know if there's any interest. Don't want to do it if no one wants it! 

I suggest all readers that I have lured into the Aerith/Leon fold to wander around the KH section, find some other good fics. Maybe read **Astray**, or Bhryn's **Destroyed**; give it try. You'd be surprised.

* * *

And, a last thank-you and goodbye to all my reviewers; never got to thank any of you "up-close and personal," shall we say. So here we go!  


__

-Trinculo/Slinkster Sunshine: Hey! What happened to **Puppet March**? I was really looking forward to a new chapter! Don't tell me you deleted it! Put it up, put it up! ...Please?

__

-Bek: Thanks for always being there! You were one of the few who reviewed a majority of my chapters.

-_Mala_- You, too! You're a cherished constant reviewer. Want some cookies? I got lots.

  
-_Bhryn Astairre_: Ah, my fellow Leon-Aerith fanfic author. Feel like we're kindred spirits. Wishing you the best luck in writing! May the Muses look kindly upon your future inspiration...

-_Wild Rinoa:_ Good news! I've scrambled my thoughts together and finally came up with a new fanfic based on your...err....requests. God knows it's _very_ AU, and semi-humorous, semi-dark. Sheesh. Wonder how well that combination works... Anyway, look for it around next week, under the title **A Week in Devil's Paradise**. Catchy name, no?

-_Star Princess_: A fanfic of your own, eh? Tell me when you finish it! I'll be your beta-tester!

-_Dreamcatcher_: Yes! Another Leon-Aerith devotee! I swear, I need to make up a contact list or something...

-_TheyReallyLoveMe_: Yup, I really love you. Strictly speaking from an author's point of view, of course. Thanks so much for all your comments; it really does give me a lift.

-_Hikaru_: (in a parody of Miwako from ParaKiss:) YEEK! YEEK!

-_Galen_: I know what you mean, and I'm really apologetic for making the story lean towards Leon in the end. But it's really all up to circumstances, and it just so happened that Aerith couldn't live without him. Too much guilt. (It's complicated.)

-_Meiko_: Fooled you! It's really Leon-Aerith, but with that kind of ending, it's pretty much inconclusive. Not satisfied, huh? I can tell.

-_Hustler_ _One_: 216th reviewer? Maybe I can make an exception...but give me idea of what you want, and I'll think about it.

-_Minerva, Mimi Blossoms Aeris 15, and Fallen Shadow:_ Thanks a bunch! You have no idea how much your thoughts matter to me. Happy reading for as long as you may browse FF.net!

-_Monica_: What? Me? An evil mistress of cliffhangers? (laughs in reality) Well, I guess I should be flattered.

-_Nokania_: Agreed. No more need be said.

-The people that place me under their "favorite authors" list: Thanks, hugs, and kisses! Don't think I don't know... I'm quite vain, if I do say so myself. Or my friends will say that for me... -_-;

-And last, but definitely not least, _Crescendo Ash_: HA! Did I spite you enough? Eh? Oh, but don't get mad; **Astray** will probably end up much safer and much less melodramatic. But what's wrong with good ol' angst? You'll end up using it sometime or another, mark my words. Two words, buddy: Soft Braid. :F


	14. Hiatus

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Author's _Important_ Hiatus Note

Whoo-hoo! **250** reviews total, thanks so much! (Especially to Bhryn, theyreallyloveme, Slinkster, Monica/Southwest EggRoll [interesting name, I like], hustler one, Rose, Idril, MimiBAerith15, and the rest of you wonderful people!) **Project: Trinity **wouldn't have been able to be finished without you guys! [Crap, I'm getting waterlogged...] Hope you will stick with it to the end (Nope, I've decided that it's too cruel to leave things the way they are in Chapter Thirteen, so I'm continuing the fic! Aren't you guys happy?)!

A note I wanted to add in for Chapter 13 but didn't manage to until now: Aerith committed suicide not so much because she unbearably _loved _Leon and couldn't live without him (I don't think she's _that_ weak a character), but because she thinks she's guilty for his death. Yeah, I know. Complicated. It shall resolve itself later on, no fear.

So, this is how the facts for the next chapter (after I get done with my AP tests and whatnot) will stand:

-Aerith and Leon and Sephiroth are definitely dead. Yup, no doubt about that. The Kingdom Hearts Arc is officially done with. Anything that happens now, happens with a severed link.

-I _am_ trying to lean towards Leon/Aerith (Not enough of these out there, guys, come on! Start writing! I give you my wholehearted support!), but very probably there _will_ be another triangle. It's not Project Trinity without that, no? In any case, couplings are still pretty much in the air. Expect more ranting on this later.

-So I'm thinking reincarnation fic, but not one of those cheesy ones where Aerith is reborn again and all that...a tasteful AU setting, perhaps? Dark, of course. I'm a sucker for Dark AU fics...and I can think of many plotlines already...Ooh, the drama...

::Bleep:: Will reviewer number 250 please step up? I'd like to dedicate a fic to you...

[Well, so that's pretty much it. Whew. Thanks again, and happy reading!]


	15. 14 The Second Loop, Prologue

[Author's Quickie: _Finally_. I started Project Trinity up again. I know, I know, took me a year and half, right? Ah, well. You can't rush inspiration. As I had promised, the second part of this fanfic will be…different. Alternate Universe, as in reality. Dark. I'm not quite sure how I want to press the "reincarnation" bit from earlier chapters, but somehow I'll work it in. No fear! Basically, this can be a stand-alone fic, but there will be a tie-in from the first part. Well, read on.]

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Project Trinity:

The Second Loop

Chapter 14, Prologue

She found herself, again, alone.

Brushing a polished nail past the gleaming black granite countertop, she idly waited for her boyfriend--no, fiance--to emerge from the office. When a secretary came to stand dutifully by her side and asked if she would like some tea, Aerith swiftly declined, shaking her head. The secretary retreated back to her desk, immediately immersing herself into her work.

Sighing, Aerith shook out her hair and stared down at the glossy black desk. He was always late, always busy. Of course, she vaguely surmised that being CEO of an international company would do that to someone, but still... Wistfully, she leant her chin on her elbow and drifted into childhood memories. 

"Aerith?" At the sound of his voice, she looked up and stood from her chair, an easy smile already appearing on her face. Cloud, a few feet away, smiled slightly in return and motioned towards his office, indicating that he wanted to talk to her inside. As she walked towards him, he took her gently by the elbow in a tender, reassuring grip.

She smiled nervously, a little anxious to see him, and little worried. _Worried?_ No! She was fine. Absolutely fine. As they entered the double glass doors that led to his office, Cloud closing it firmly behind him, she started talking to hide her anxiety.

"I missed you," she said breathlessly, wrapping her slender arms around his neck. She inhaled deeply, the scent of his light cologne filling her nostrils with its deep, warm scent. Cloud chuckled, an amused grin on his face as he pecked her softly on the cheek.

"What, already? It's only been two days," he replied, swinging her legs over his arms and carrying her over to the leather sofa.

She sighed, a little put-out by his careless remark. "It's just... I..."

"You're worried about the wedding," he correctly surmised. He nuzzled her cheek affectionately, his breath warm on her skin. "Don't. Everything will be fine."

Although her head was swimming with emotions, she tried to stay level-headed. Resolutely, she pulled away from his touch and leant back, brushing away the hurt look he sent her. "Cloud, please. The wedding's only three months away. I...I'm panicked," she confessed, tugging on his suit sleeve.

"It's okay," he said soothingly, tracing the outline of her small face with his fingers. She shuddered from his light touch, lifting her face up as a sunflower did to the sun. His voice was so reassuring, so warm. She could trust him. He had saved her life, and, more importantly, it was love... "Just leave that up to my parents and the wedding designers. Everything will be okay, I promise." Just as his lips grazed hers for a brief moment, his cell phone rang and he groaned, pulling back. "Sorry," he mouthed as he held his phone up to his ear, already walking towards the floor-to-ceiling windows on the other side of the room. "Mr. Hayasaka? Yes, yes...The business proposal...? Of course, I shall personally oversee the process..."

Silently Aerith sat up on the sofa, her long hair tumbling loose from the barrette that had held it together. As she watched Cloud walk away farther and farther, she felt the security blanket that had momentarily covered her being torn away. _Two months_. Two months was a long time. But a lifetime was even longer. _Till Death do us part..._

She tried to reason with herself. _It would be okay. Trust Cloud. _But her heart screamed bloody murder.

* * *

"But, Miss Gainsborough..." the man interjected, obviously displeased with her request, "I'm not sure that's wise..."

Defiantly she stared him down, even if she was a full foot shorter, determined to have her way on at least this. "I'm only going to browse the stores downtown. There's no need for you to accompany me into Victoria's Secret, is there?" she said, a grim smile on her face. 

"Well...err...." Flustered, the bodyguard tried a last ditch effort, his brown eyes darkening in displeasure. "But Mr. Strife had ordered me to protect you..."

"I'll be perfectly fine," Aerith insisted, opening the car door. "If you want, you can watch me from the window. Just _don't follow me_." She slammed the door of the black Mercedes Benz closed, walking purposefully to the crowded sidewalk. The bodyguard watched helplessly for a moment, then lost sight of her in the crowd. She heard the engine rumble to life, and caught a glimpse of the car as the driver drove off into the thick traffic.

_Good_, Aerith thought in satisfaction, _some quality time **alone**_. When would Cloud stop sending those bodyguards to watch over her, like some broody mother hen? True, there was some disturbing reports of shady underground crime groups stirring, but it wasn't as if they were going to assault her or anything, right? Most people had no idea who she was, but with a tall man dressed in a black suit standing stiffly behind her everywhere she went, it didn't take a law degree to figure out she was somehow important. It was like having the sign "Kidnap me for a lot of money!" hanging over her head.

Aerith glanced scrutinizingly at the front window display of a clothing store, a trifle disgusted by the gaudy print clothes. No way in hell was anyone _that_ skinny. Stores always had the annoying habit of pinning back the shirts so that they seemed waist-trim, when in reality they flapped upon a body like bed sheets. She passed on down the street aimlessly, enjoying being in the middle of a vibrantly alive city, her shoulder bag dangling off the edge of her arm. Cold blue eyes glinted in the sunlight a few steps away.

She ducked into The Limited, browsing the racks for a nice pair of black pants. Alongside of her aisle, a young woman a few years older than her was selecting an ultra-tiny red tube top. As Aerith passed by a mirror, she glanced ruefully down at her own plain white blouse and khaki skirt, wondering how on earth she had ever gotten Cloud to love her. _Multi-millionaires get the pick of the harvest, after all_.

Shaking her dismal thoughts out of her head, Aerith walked on, gathering a handful of Johnny collar t-shirts in her arms and bringing them to the fitting room. 

She didn't get very far, though.

Because the man that had been watching all this time finally struck.

And in a heartbeat, he had already knocked her unconscious with a blow to the side of the head, gathered her in his arms, and left by the back door.

The lion pendant jingled on his chain as he ran, glinting silver in the sunlight.

* * *

[Ending notes: A hefty first chapter, no? I'm quite sure half of you are like "Wow!" and the other half are going "What the hell was that?" Argh. Stick with me, peoples. The storyline will come true in the end.]


	16. 15 Awakening

[Author's Quickie: Hey everyone, it's been a while since I've updated…but I've finally done it! I completed another chapter! Whoo-hoo! Great, now that that's out of the way, you can read on. Cheers!]

Disclaimer: No ownership, except of the plot line.

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Project: Trinity

Chapter Fifteen: Awakening

Unceremoniously he dropped her lifeless body onto the black leather couch, then went straight to the kitchen cabinet and took out a clear glass bottle. With shaking hands--he was really getting too old for these kinds of things--he proceeded to pour himself a shot of whiskey and tipped the glass back in one motion. The translucent liquid burned his throat as it made its way down, but somehow it brought back his senses.

_God._ What was he doing? What the hell did he think he was doing? He had just attacked a girl--and if even she had deserved it, he was still a kidnapper--and now he had a body to take care of that was currently lying on his sofa.

Christ. With short, impatient steps he walked over to the couch, and crouched down to check her pulse. He didn't think he hit her _that_ hard, but you never knew with these fragile rich snobs. He wanted the job done _right_, damn it. When he placed two fingers to the base of her neck, directly under her chin, a weak throbbing under his hand told him it was all right. Exhaling a breath in partial relief, he slumped against the glass coffee table and reconsidered.

Innocent--that was the first word that came to his mind when he saw her. Wide, bright green eyes that shined with purity, a child's laugh, a smile that was unreserved, giving. How could a woman who was so central, so embroiled in the corporate plot--the Strife conspiracy--have the face of an angel?  
He had seen that face before.

It had to be all right--it had to be. He had to believe in himself; he needed to carry out his job, make sure everything was in place. The end always justified the means. His head throbbing from the excess of alcohol, Leon cradled his head in his hands and rocked back and forth, trying to summon some shred of composure.

A stir from the sofa roused him from his daze, and he saw, to his dismay, that the girl was awakening. "Damn," he muttered, dragging a hand through his thick hair as he rose from his seat.

Her lips parted in a moan, and instinctively her hand went to the bruise at the side of her head. "What…happened?' she said drowsily, the dew of sleep still heavy on her eyelashes. Everything in her vision was hazy, so hazy… Her free hand slipped down the soft leather of the sofa and touched something firmer. It felt…odd. Warm. Like it was alive. Quickly she bit back a scream as the thing underneath her hand moved, and bolted upright as she realized where she was.

She was nowhere.

"Where am I?" she demanded of no one in particular, feeling panic rising into her chest. "What is this place?" Looking around desperately, she could see a sterile white room, accentuated only sparsely by black articles of furniture. Her hands dug into the couch in a claw-like grip, and instinctively she wanted to cry. _Don't you dare cry, Aerith, _she told herself, wanting to believe she could hang on to her dignity. She would _not_ be hysterical, though God knew she was close to breaking down. Shaking, Aerith stared up at the man who glared at her with such darkly intense brown eyes.

Without answering, the man moved away from the sofa towards a granite kitchen counter, and idly plucked up a shot glass from the table. "Hey!" Aerith said bravely, though her hand was trembling on the hem of her dress, her heart beating wildly beneath, "Did you hear me?" The man slammed the glass down on the countertop and glowered angrily at her. She caught her breath as he stalked his way over, grabbing her chin by one hand and yanking it up sharply so that she had to stare into his stormy eyes.

"Who are you?" she whispered, fear flickering blatantly across her irises. At last the stranger deigned to answer her, though his upper lip curled in something resembling a sneer as he spoke.

"Your savior."

* * *

"_What?_" was Aerith's first reaction, and she thought afterwards it was a rather rational one. "What do you mean, my _savior_?" She struggled up from the leather sofa, wondering why on earth her head felt as if someone had struck it with a sledgehammer. "I am perfectly capable of saving _myself_, thank you very much--" she broke off in increasing bewilderment, her eyes blinking rapidly. The man hadn't even bothered to pay attention to her, instead focusing on swirling the scotch around in the shot glass.

"I--I don't understand," Aerith said a small voice, sitting down on the carpeted floor. "Why am I here? I--I was shopping, and--" Puzzlement furrowed her brow as she pressed a hand to her temple, struggling to remember. "And…I…fainted…? Ow--!" she cried out as her hand passed over a large bump on the side of her head. She drew her hand back, staring in horrid fascination at the red clumps of what had to be blood on her fingers.

Wild thoughts flew around in her head. 

Accusation and fear made her voice sharp, made her voice louder. "You--you hit me," she said, realization dawning. "You knocked me out, and brought me here."

"Oh, how very well noted," her kidnapper said sarcastically, the first thing he had ever said to her. "You show such powers of observation, I'm really impressed." He shook his head, his partial sneer deepening. "I always knew rich girls aren't the brightest crayon in the box, but you're rather slow on the uptake, aren't you?"

Though wounded at his deriding comments, Aerith's confusion merely increased. "What are you talking about? What have I ever done to _you_? Why did you bring me here?"

The man's eyes narrowed considerably at her questions, and he threw his shot glass into the sink with enough force so that it broke. The glass pieces tinkered into the basin, like a shattered windchime. "You're the fiancé of a man named Cloud Strife, aren't you?" he asked as calmly as he could, in a perplexing non-sequitir. When she nodded slowly, he continued, "Then you know why you're here. The plan won't work without you marrying Strife."

"_What_? What has my marriage got to do with…with any plan? What the heck are you talking about?" Aerith demanded, anger building. She hated being angry, hated the headaches that being angry brought her, but why wasn't this stupid man making any _sense_?

"Don't pretend you don't know what this is about," he began irritably, his own rage increasing. "You and Strife have planned it all out. The Gainsborough family controls a third of the most important industries Japan has to offer. The Strife family controls the other third. The marriage will bring about a merger, and then the Strife corporation will have an almost exclusive monopoly over Tokyo. And everyone knows the Strifes aren't the most benevolent of businessmen; they'll resort to underhanded tactics to gain more power and money."

"Planned what out? You're crazy!" she cried, exasperated and a little outraged that this stranger was talking so blandly about her fiancé like that. Her head hurt and here she was, with a kidnapper informing her about some insipid plan she knew absolutely nothing about. "I've never even heard of anything like this! There won't be a merger with our marriage; who told you something like _that_?" 

"Stop acting," the man said coldly. "Everything's been arranged."

She stood up, radiating cold fury. "I have no idea what you talking about. I don't know what kind of merger you are talking about, don't know what monopoly it is, don't know how you would know what I don't. I don't even know who the _hell_ you are, and thank you very much for butting in my personal and very private life, and thank you for kidnapping me off the streets, but _I'm leaving._" 

With these forceful words she turned to go, but her whole body immediately turned rigid as a gun was placed against the back of her head. Her kidnapper's icy voice spoke out from behind her. "Unfortunately, you cannot go. The marriage cannot take place. This will have to be your home for the rest of the next couple of days." And so saying, he walked down a hall that branched from the living room, and opened a bedroom door. He paused to add, "Don't bother screaming, no one will hear you out here," and slammed the door behind him, leaving Aerith to stare in stunned dismay at the new turn in her life.


	17. 16 Addendum

[Author's Quickie:

Hi all. I've been decapitated from Fanfiction.net for a while (only if you haven't noticed). But I've recently decided to post my fanfiction up again…though not about Kingdom Hearts, and in _Project: Trinity_. I need to ask everyone a question. How much do you want me to continue? I've already written the 17th chapter, but I'm not sure if there's so-called public approval. [I have been out of reach for a year or so, after all]. Drop me a line, tell me how you feel. If not, I'll just let _Project: Trinity_ where it hangs, though it pains me to do so.

Those characters tend to attach themselves to you….Damn it all.]

Disclaimer: Bzzz.. . Snap, Crackle, Pop!

****

Project: Trinity

Chapter 17: Addendum

_This_, Aerith decided unhappily as she smacked a sofa pillow, _was the most horrible day of her life._ For a moment she wondered if she was in a dream, and, after pinching herself without any fruitful result, had concluded it was not. All those ridiculous things that man said! _He is insane_, she thought to herself. _Stark raving mad._

But she admitted to herself that he didn't seem like he was insane. True, he had a wonderfully fierce temper that made her want to chuck something at his head, something preferably sharp and pointy. He was tall, dark, and brooding. But he wasn't insane.   
"Oh, right, Aerith," she murmured aloud, "your kidnapper is very sane. Incredibly sane. So sane that I think I'm going to cry." But she didn't, managing to persevere at the last moment. Nonetheless, her mind wandered back to their heated conversation.

_"The marriage will bring about a merger, and then the Strife corporation will have an almost exclusive monopoly over Tokyo. And everyone knows the Strifes aren't the most benevolent of businessmen; they'll resort to underhanded tactics to gain more power and money."_

The last sentence she had dismissed; she had known the Strife family for a while now, and not only were they the most well-mannered people she had ever met, they were also the most trustworthy. But why hadn't anyone--Cloud, her parents, Cloud's parents--told her anything about the merger? Maybe they knew she wouldn't have really cared, Aerith rationalized.

Truth to tell, she wasn't the type of person who could control the vast workings of the Gainsborough Corporation. As her father had said and Cloud had once echoed, "You're born to love, not to run a business."

But something as important as a merger…

"No," she said aloud, shaking her head to free herself of such worries, "he wouldn't. Cloud loves me." She was being ridiculous. She needed to focus. She needed to _get out of here_. But how could she? She was trapped, by this efficient kidnapping machination of a human. And then, out of nowhere, she started to cry.

_Cloud…Cloud, I'm sorry…I might never see you again…_

_No._ She had to be strong. She couldn't fall to pieces like this! She had withstood it all before…even the illness hadn't brought her down…she couldn't, just couldn't… A little unsteadily she rose to her feet, her legs shaking. _Oh, God_, she thought as she sat back down heavily. Her body was exhausted; it seemed like she hadn't eaten since…hadn't eaten since… Her eyes sought out a window, and the quiet darkness that was descending upon the streets of Midgar City told her it was past 6:00 pm. She hadn't eaten since that morning, and even then it was only a cranberry muffin with a glass of orange juice. Her stomach rumbled, as if bemoaning the circumstances.

_Wait. The window._ With a new hope fluttering in her chest, she ran towards the window on the left side of the condo and looked down. Her heart very nearly jumped into her throat. It was at least ten stories down, probably even more, so jumping out of it was an unpromising possibility.

Her knees gave way, and she sank down to the wooden floorboards, shoulders slumped in despair. Hopeless. It was all hopeless. Her stomach gave her another kick, as if to remind her of priorities. _Right,_ she thought dimly, _food first, escape routes later._

She stumbled towards the open kitchen, which overlooked the living room. Shards of glass littered the gleaming metallic sink, the remains of the kidnapper's shot glass after his burst of rage. With a sigh she reached in and started to scoop the shards into her palm, intending to clear it out, but caught herself angrily. What was she _doing_? Why was she helping him? He was the source of all her problems. _Let him rot_.

With a furious crash she flung the glass back into the sink, breaking them even more, and stood staring at the sink, breathing heavily. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was getting married in two months, damn it! She still needed to pick out her wedding dress, the bridesmaid dresses, the ring…she had so much to do, so much to give back… Why would anyone do this to her? What had she ever done to deserve this?

"Damn you!" she shouted, kicking the door of the dishwasher wrathfully, ignoring the spasm of pain it sent up her leg. "DAMN YOU!" She didn't know if the man had heard her or not, but it really didn't matter. She felt better after having screamed her frustration, though it didn't help her much.

Quieting down within moments, she gained control of herself and found her stomach growling again. _Right, the food_. Aerith reached out for the refrigerator door and tugged it open, and was relieved to see, at any case, that her kidnapper did not mean to starve her to death. Leafy green vegetables sat along the edge of the compartments, ripe oranges and crunchy apples tumbled out of the bin, milk and Tropicana strawberry-banana fruitblends, her favorite, on the top shelf.

Aerith was a little tickled to see that her kidnapper, the serious, angry man that he was, would have a craving for strawberry-banana juice. She opened the freezer compartment and saw a vast array of meat and poultry inside. For a moment she hovered in front of the fridge, a little leery of eating her kidnapper's food, then she decided, _the hell with it_, and took out large portion of frozen chicken, lettuce, tomato, and cabbage, and saw to her delight there was a bottle of Caesar dressing in a cabinet. Scooping everything into her arms and onto the kitchen counter, she started to rummage in the counters beneath the sink.

"Aha!" she said in triumph as she found a large frying pan, which looked like it hadn't been used a long, long time. Further digging produced a spatula, and a couple of salad bowls. With practiced motions she braided her hair up, securing it in a loose bun with her ribbon, and began slicing the cabbage and lettuce into smaller parts. After the chicken had defrosted a while, she chopped it up into small chunks, which she then placed on the frying pan on low heat. Soon the air was thick was the smell of freshly-cooked chicken and the crisp tang of lettuce.

So intent on making a perfect dinner was she that Aerith hadn't even realized the man was watching her from the partial doorway. "What are you doing?" he said loudly, startling her into dropping the salad tongs to the tiled floor.

After Aerith had gotten her breath back into her lungs, she bent down to pick up the tongs and glared at him. "Cooking."

"No, really?" the man said sarcastically. "I had no idea; I just thought you were planning to set the place on fire." She wanted to smack him; instead, she washed the tongs under the sink and coolly returned to tossing the salad. "I meant, what are you making?" he said finally, when she ignored him.

"A salad. Isn't that obvious?" she retorted. God help her, she certainly wasn't going to be civil to this man, since he wasn't at all civil to _her_. When the man hadn't responded, she glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. To her surprise, there was an almost sorrowful look in his eyes, eyes the color of a storm-shot sky. Aerith found her anger cooling, against her will; being angry was simply not in her nature, and though she thoroughly hated this man, she found her curiosity growing. _Why?_

As Aerith finished tossing the salad, she found she had made more than needed. She couldn't eat possibly so much, even though her hunger was ravenous by now. She brought out two salad bowls, split the contents between them, and took both bowls to the dining table, along with two silver forks. Closing her eyes, she resigned herself and said to him, "I can't eat all of this by myself, you know."

With confusion in his eyes the man turned to face her, his expression mostly unreadable. "Are you…asking me to eat with you?"

Setting her jaw tight, Aerith nodded. "I don't like wasting food. But if you don't want to eat it, then by no means…" She drifted off as the man slowly made his way towards the table, and sat down on a metal chair. Stiffly, knowing her every movement was being watched by him, Aerith speared a couple pieces of lettuce on her fork and chewed it thoughtfully. Damn it, she had forgotten the vinegar and oil.

"I've never eaten a homemade salad before," the man said suddenly, his own fork poised halfway towards his mouth. He was staring at his salad as if it had sprouted wings.

She was startled into an honest reply. "Why not? Hadn't your mother ever made one for you?"

The corners of his lips curled up ever so slightly, as if in derision. "I've never known her." Aerith bit her lip, digging in her salad just so she wouldn't have to reply. _Don't let yourself back down, _she told herself fiercely. _Don't feel sorry for him! He kidnapped you!_ But how could she help it? How could her heart not feel pity for this strange, brooding man, so laden down with premature grief and endless sorrow?

"Oh." If she had been anyone else, she would have said she was sorry; but she knew, instinctively, that he was the kind of man who resented those empty words, words that did nothing to make the pain less. "What about your father?"

"Never knew him, either." The contempt in his face was so clearly evident that Aerith felt she shouldn't press any further. For a few moments the two of them picked at their salads in silence. "You're…an odd person," he said after a couple of minutes, studying her.

Aerith looked up, an almost bemused look on her face. "I'm an odd person?" she repeated, poking at the chunks of chicken in her bowl, "What do you mean?"

"Not everyone would sit down to dinner with their kidnapper so blithely," he said dryly. Aerith had to admit, he had a point there.

"I…am odd, I suppose. But…" here she hesitated, trying to shuffle her thoughts in order, "you're an odd kidnapper. It goes both ways." He blinked, as if considering.

"Yeah. Guess so," he murmured, taking a bite of sliced tomato. The rich, juicy flavor exploded in his mouth, and suddenly, for the first time in his life, he wondered how life would have been if he had had a mother to cook for him, to care for him, to love him. _No use thinking about it now, _he thought resolutely.

"I've…been wondering…" Aerith said, glancing down at her salad, which she had managed to finish only half of, "Well…what your name is."

Another silence, this time longer than before. She could practically _see_ him contemplating whether or not to tell her. His fork pushed various chunks of chicken and cabbage around in his bowl. "Call me Leon," he answered at last.

"Leon," she said, nodding. "I'm Aerith."

"I know," he replied wryly. He sighed, and pushed his salad away from him. "I just don't understand…" he whispered quietly, almost as if to himself.

"Don't understand what?" she found herself asking, then knew immediately she had gone too far as Leon's face contorted into one of anger.

"None of your business," he snarled, shoving his chair back so that it fell to the floor with a loud _clang_. Aerith stared up fearfully at his glowering expression, where before it had been thoughtful, contemplative. _What had happened_? "Don't get too friendly--it won't last long, anyway," he snapped at her, before running to his door and slamming it behind him.

_Oh my God_, Aerith thought, her lips trembling from such an onslaught of fury. What kind of person was he?


End file.
